Karachi Tops List of World's Fastest Growing Megacities

[RiazHaq]

Here's an excerpt from a piece by Mahanth S. Joishy, Editor, usindiamonitor.com : (July, 2012):

Coming from a city government background, I was surprised at how organized Karachi was throughout the ride. I also didn’t see many beggars the entire way. I had just spent significant amounts of time in two major Indian cities, Mumbai and Bangalore, as well as several second-tier cities like Mangalore, and none would compare favorably on maintenance and city planning, especially when it came to potholes and waste management. This was the first surprise; I was expecting that piles of garbage and dirt would line the roads and beggars would overflow onto the streets. Surely there is dirt and poverty in Karachi, but far less than I was expecting. Karachi was also less dense and crowded than India’s cities.


My second pleasant surprise was to see numerous large development projects under way. I had read about Pakistan’s sluggish GDP growth and corruption in public works and foreign aid disbursement. This may be true, but construction was going on all over the place: new movie theaters, new malls, new skyscrapers, new roads, and entire new neighborhoods being built from scratch. In this regard it was similar to India and every other part of Asia I had seen recently: new development and rapid change continues apace, something we are seeing less of in the West.

Haq's Musings: Indians Share "Eye-Opener" Stories of Pakistan

 

[RiazHaq]

Mohsin Hamid's latest book illustrates how rapid urbanization is transforming Pakistan from poor agrarian nation to an urban middle class country.

It's a story of a sickly little village boy's rise in Pakistan from abject rural poverty to great urban wealth as a young man who falls in love with "the pretty girl", an equally ambitious fellow slum-dweller in the city.

Billed as a "how-to" book, Mohsin Hamid's “How to Get ****** Rich in Rising Asia” draws upon trends like increasing urbanization, rising middle-class consumption, growing entrepreneurship and widespread scams to weave a fascinating tale set in Hamid's hometown of Lahore. It's also a boy-meets-girl love story that takes many twists and turns and ends with the two lovers finally living together in their twilight years.

Along the way, Hamid, himself part of a ambitious new generation of Pakistani writers making it big on the global stage, touches upon the principal character's brushes with religious conservatives, unscrupulous politicians, corrupt bureaucrats and criminal gangs. Hamid shows how the protagonist successfully navigates through it all until he himself falls victim to fraud perpetrated by his young lieutenant.

Although the book does not explicitly name the places, the descriptions suggest that it's set mostly in Lahore, Hamid's home town, and Karachi which is described as "city by the sea".

The protagonist is a third-born poor kid transplanted by his father along with his mother and siblings from his village to the city. The order of his birth permits him to go to school while his older siblings forgo schooling to work and help the family make ends meet in the city.

The protagonist drops out of the university that he was admitted to and goes from being a DVD rental delivery boy to a successful entrepreneur with a thriving bottled water business. Later, he has an arranged marriage which produces a son but he continues to think of “the pretty girl” from the slum who is trying to climb higher as a fashion model in the "city by the sea".

As the protagonist grows old, he finds himself alone, divorced from his wife, and separated from his son studying in the US. The story ends with him finding "the pretty girl", the love of his life, till death does them apart.

Hamid's latest novel is hard to put down once you start reading it. It is meant to be read cover-to-cover in one sitting. His prior internationally-acclaimed and equally attention-grabbing works include Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The Reluctant Fundamentalist made the New York Times Best Seller List. It was also short-listed for Man Booker Prize. It has been made into a movie slated for release in the United States next month.

Haq's Musings: Mohsin Hamid Spins Rags to Riches Tale Set in Rising Pakistan

 

[RiazHaq]

Larger population is in fact a blessing for Pakistan in terms of greater human capital and higher demographic dividend.

Pakistan has the world’s sixth largest population, seventh largest diaspora and the ninth largest labor force. With rapidly declining fertility and aging populations in the industrialized world, Pakistan's growing talent pool is likely to play a much bigger role to satisfy global demand for workers in the 21st century and contribute to the well-being of Pakistan as well as other parts of the world.

Haq's Musings: Pakistan's Expected Demographic Dividend

Dramatic declines in fertility are not necessarily good for society. In a book titled "The Empty Cradle", the author Philip Longman warns that the declining birth rates around the world will cause many social and economic problems. As a consequence of declining fertility, by 2050 the population of Europe will have fallen to what it was in 1950. Mr. Longman says this is happening all around the world: Women are having fewer children. It's happening in Brazil, it's happening in China, India and Japan. It's even happening in the Middle East. Wherever there is rapid urbanization, education for women and visions of urban affluence, birthrates are falling. Having and raising children is seen as an expense and a burden.

"So we have a "free rider" problem. You don't need to have children to provide for your old age -- but the pension systems need them." Says Longman, referring to the coming Social Security crunch as the number of retired people rises faster than the number of workers.

Haq's Musings: Do South Asian Slums Offer Hope?

 

[Cherokee]

Rizzle , fo' Shizzle ma Nizzle .

 

[gslv mk3]

Haq's Musings: Indians Share "Eye-Opener" Stories of Pakistan

I had answered you,in that thread itself...

http://www.defence.pk/forums/economy-development/198359-indian-journalists-writers-share-eye-opener-stories-pakistan-visits.html

That realization hit me as a rude shock the moment I stepped out of the plane and entered Islamabad's plush International Airport, easily far more efficient, modern and better maintained than any of its counterparts in India.

Really??

islamabad airport

Delhi airport

A tier 3 airport from India

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

I had answered you,in that thread itself...

http://www.defence.pk/forums/economy-development/198359-indian-journalists-writers-share-eye-opener-stories-pakistan-visits.html

That realization hit me as a rude shock the moment I stepped out of the plane and entered Islamabad's plush International Airport, easily far more efficient, modern and better maintained than any of its counterparts in India.

Really??

islamabad airport

Delhi airport

A tier 3 airport from India

A model of Islamabad airport under construction:

 

[gslv mk3]

A model of Islamabad airport under construction:

I know that.But the fact is that nearly all tier 1,tier2 and tiier 3 Indian citys have a modern glass and steel airport while tier 1 pakistani citys like Karachi and Lahore doesnt even have a plan for a modern airport in their radar

 

[gslv mk3]

Did somebody said road sweeping

Even our tier 3 citys have that sort of equipment..and the same tier 3 city have a better airport than any Pakistani one and is getting a monorail

Yes. Yes, you read right. The roads. I used to live in Mumbai and now I live in Delhi and, yes, I think good roads are a great, mammoth, gargantuan luxury! Face it, when did you last see a good road in India? Like a really smooth road. Drivable, wide, nicely built and long, yawning, stretching so far that you want zip on till eternity and loosen the gears and let the car fly. A road without squeeze or bump or gaping holes that pop up like blood-dripping kitchen knives in Ramsay Brothers films. When did you last see such roads? Pakistan is full of such roads. Driving on the motorway between Islamabad and Lahore, I thought of the Indian politician who ruled a notorious —, one could almost say viciously — potholed state and spoke of turning the roads so smooth that they would resemble the cheeks of Hema Malini. They remained as dented as the face of Frankenstein's monster. And here, in Pakistan, I was travelling on roads that — well, how can one now avoid this? — were as smooth as Hema Malini's cheeks! Pakistani roads are broad and smooth and almost entirely, magically, pot hole free. How do they do it; this country that is ostensibly so far behind in economic growth compared to India? But they do and one of my most delightful experiences in Pakistan has been travelling on its fabulous roads. No wonder the country is littered with SUVs — Pakistan has the roads for such cars! Even in tiny Bajaur in the North West frontier province, hard hit by the Taliban, and a little more than a frontier post, the roads were smoother than many I know in India. Even Bajaur has a higher road density than India! If there is one thing we should learn from the Pakistanis, it is how to build roads. And oh, another thing, no one throws beer bottles or trash on the highways and motorways.

[/B]

Delhi

Hyderabad

Mumbai

 

[karan21]

The only parameter taken into consideration is population. No infrastructure, job creation, development etc is considered. I totally dismiss this as a proof of booming Pakistan.

 

[Kompromat]

The only parameter taken into consideration is population. No infrastructure, job creation, development etc is considered. I totally dismiss this as a proof of booming Pakistan.

Did anyone say Pakistan is booming?

 

[gslv mk3]

global city rankings

Global city - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of cities by GDP

List of cities by GDP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Did anyone say Pakistan is booming?

hmmmmmmmmmm...

Karachi is the best city of south Asia!

And why is every one changing their flag to North Korea??

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

 

[gslv mk3]

^^thats isloo..the thread is about Karachi

^^thats isloo..the thread is about Karachi

 

[SHAMK9]

Even our tier 3 citys have that sort of equipment..and the same tier 3 city have a better airport than any Pakistani one and is getting a monorail



Delhi

Hyderabad

Mumbai

These motorways that you are bragging out today, were built in Pakistan back in the 90's, enough with the chest thumping.

 

[Peshwa]

The VICE Guide to Karachi | VICE United States

A very candid look at the political situation in Karachi that I feel has become a hindrance in its potential to become a mega city (economically speaking since the natural and geographic conditions of Karachi could easily rival that of Mumbai or even better)..

PS: Vice in general is the kind of unbiased raw feed that I appreciate...I suggest others to attempt at following their Journalism and coverage as well...