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Pakistan is set to launch its ‘Vision 2025’. It was a pleasant surprise that young and experienced resources were taken on board for this project and different set of people were involved for constructive feedback and policy frameworks. After skimming through the vision, I consider it as fresh air in our system which guides us towards the path of sustainable growth and prosperity. This particular piece is written in context with ‘#Vision2025, increase in population and rapid transport systems in Pakistan’.
The world has experienced a rapid growth in urban population in last few decades. Approximately 18% of population used to live in cities in 1950s which is 52.5% according to World Bank databank of 2012. This figure is expected to rise to 3.9 billion by 2015. The 21st century is the century of cities and urbanisation. Majority of this migration to urban areas is observed in developing countries mainly due to lack of sustainable rural economy and unavailability of basic necessities. Pakistan has 10 cities with population over 1 million with public transport which is in miserable condition and can only support up to 5% of their total population. These 10 cities are the backbone of country’s economy and provide more than 75% of total GDP of the country.
These ten cities in Pakistan are very important due to their population and complexity in terms of their administration, infrastructure, traffic and managing other basic necessities. Facilities like public health, safety and education are not fully available or as robust as to address the massive requirements. Other infrastructural basic requirements are transportation, water, power and communication all of which are very technical and complex for big cities. Similarly, there are no or inadequate facilities to respond to any disaster or mishap which increase the vulnerability of masses in mega cities of developing world.
These cities are economic drivers of the country and plays vital role in regional and national politics. Leaders from different segments of life like politics, corporate business and intellect are normally residing in these large cities. They are basically trend setter for economy and culture of any country.
There is no doubt that government should focus on other basic necessities as well and there should be no compromise on health, safety and medical facilities. However, in current scenario, what Pakistan needs more than anything is an economic boost. Only economic activities will help people and government to support each other for provision of peace and other basic facilities. Like all other countries, political leaders and parties take sides mainly as per their own interest rather than collective national interest. This biasedness is then transferred to their followers and results into un-ending debates in the streets, offices and gatherings. After going through wars, martial laws, natural disasters and fall of Dhaka; it is time for us to realise that we need to think as a nation and country instead of playing politics over every single issue.
Sharifs government is criticised by their political rivals that they over-focused on roads and infrastructure and uselessly invest in projects like Metro Buses and motorways. Connectivity and communication has become the basic unit for economic growth. Without better connectivity between different economic hubs and facilitating movement of the masses; we should not expect any major economic shift. Public transport provides personal mobility and freedom for people from every walk life. It reduces congestion which stagnates economy and saves millions of hours of travel time over the year. Since Pakistan cannot fulfill fuel requirements for vehicles on the roads, it costs billions to economy to provide fuel for all the vehicles on the roads. Research has shown that every 1 rupee invested in public transport generates approximately 4 rupees in economic returns. Every crore of investment in public transportation yields 3 crores in increased business sales.
Metro services will help to address Pakistan’s three very important issues of energy, job creation and environment. It will require less fuel compared for people to travel, will create thousands of jobs and helps in reducing carbon emissions to the environment which is going to be another issue for us in the future. Lahore Metro Bus project is a super hit in terms of number of people using it. Who are these people? From elite or upper middle class? Or belong to any specific political party or sect? Over 150,000 which are 10% of Lahore use this facility for commuting daily, belong to middle and lower class. With the addition of orange line in next 3 years, some 500,000 will use metro services daily. Same is happening in the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad. The most anti-metro stance was taken by Imran Khan and PTI who has started working on Peshawar Metro project now realising the importance of such a system for big city and how it will facilitate overall system of the metropolitans. It is easy to criticise but these projects are being built for poor and middle class people and are kind of national assets now for us to protect regardless of our political affiliations. Yes we need other facilities as well and governments should focus on them as well but we should stop criticising projects which are for national growth and prosperity and will benefit all of us in future. Any infrastructure development helps for economic and social growth and casts a cultural impact on the society in the long term. We should own these projects as Pakistan owns them instead of any political party. Eventually we will not have current leaders in future but what we will have, these services at our disposal for facilitating our lives.
HALY Research LAB – Vision 2025, population bomb, mega cities and transport infrastructure
Muhammad Abdur Rahman July 23, 2014
About the author:
Trying to study and make a sustainable world at University of Cambridge.
@Leader @Armstrong hun daas
The world has experienced a rapid growth in urban population in last few decades. Approximately 18% of population used to live in cities in 1950s which is 52.5% according to World Bank databank of 2012. This figure is expected to rise to 3.9 billion by 2015. The 21st century is the century of cities and urbanisation. Majority of this migration to urban areas is observed in developing countries mainly due to lack of sustainable rural economy and unavailability of basic necessities. Pakistan has 10 cities with population over 1 million with public transport which is in miserable condition and can only support up to 5% of their total population. These 10 cities are the backbone of country’s economy and provide more than 75% of total GDP of the country.
These ten cities in Pakistan are very important due to their population and complexity in terms of their administration, infrastructure, traffic and managing other basic necessities. Facilities like public health, safety and education are not fully available or as robust as to address the massive requirements. Other infrastructural basic requirements are transportation, water, power and communication all of which are very technical and complex for big cities. Similarly, there are no or inadequate facilities to respond to any disaster or mishap which increase the vulnerability of masses in mega cities of developing world.
These cities are economic drivers of the country and plays vital role in regional and national politics. Leaders from different segments of life like politics, corporate business and intellect are normally residing in these large cities. They are basically trend setter for economy and culture of any country.
There is no doubt that government should focus on other basic necessities as well and there should be no compromise on health, safety and medical facilities. However, in current scenario, what Pakistan needs more than anything is an economic boost. Only economic activities will help people and government to support each other for provision of peace and other basic facilities. Like all other countries, political leaders and parties take sides mainly as per their own interest rather than collective national interest. This biasedness is then transferred to their followers and results into un-ending debates in the streets, offices and gatherings. After going through wars, martial laws, natural disasters and fall of Dhaka; it is time for us to realise that we need to think as a nation and country instead of playing politics over every single issue.
Sharifs government is criticised by their political rivals that they over-focused on roads and infrastructure and uselessly invest in projects like Metro Buses and motorways. Connectivity and communication has become the basic unit for economic growth. Without better connectivity between different economic hubs and facilitating movement of the masses; we should not expect any major economic shift. Public transport provides personal mobility and freedom for people from every walk life. It reduces congestion which stagnates economy and saves millions of hours of travel time over the year. Since Pakistan cannot fulfill fuel requirements for vehicles on the roads, it costs billions to economy to provide fuel for all the vehicles on the roads. Research has shown that every 1 rupee invested in public transport generates approximately 4 rupees in economic returns. Every crore of investment in public transportation yields 3 crores in increased business sales.
Metro services will help to address Pakistan’s three very important issues of energy, job creation and environment. It will require less fuel compared for people to travel, will create thousands of jobs and helps in reducing carbon emissions to the environment which is going to be another issue for us in the future. Lahore Metro Bus project is a super hit in terms of number of people using it. Who are these people? From elite or upper middle class? Or belong to any specific political party or sect? Over 150,000 which are 10% of Lahore use this facility for commuting daily, belong to middle and lower class. With the addition of orange line in next 3 years, some 500,000 will use metro services daily. Same is happening in the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad. The most anti-metro stance was taken by Imran Khan and PTI who has started working on Peshawar Metro project now realising the importance of such a system for big city and how it will facilitate overall system of the metropolitans. It is easy to criticise but these projects are being built for poor and middle class people and are kind of national assets now for us to protect regardless of our political affiliations. Yes we need other facilities as well and governments should focus on them as well but we should stop criticising projects which are for national growth and prosperity and will benefit all of us in future. Any infrastructure development helps for economic and social growth and casts a cultural impact on the society in the long term. We should own these projects as Pakistan owns them instead of any political party. Eventually we will not have current leaders in future but what we will have, these services at our disposal for facilitating our lives.
HALY Research LAB – Vision 2025, population bomb, mega cities and transport infrastructure
Muhammad Abdur Rahman July 23, 2014
About the author:
Trying to study and make a sustainable world at University of Cambridge.
@Leader @Armstrong hun daas
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