The people of Karachi face a number of challenges relating to urban mobility as well as a complete absence of basic considerations for smart transportation. There is an urgent need to initiate a dialogue among key stakeholders to implement more climate-friendly urban mobility measures.
These views were expressed by environment experts, civil society groups and academics while presenting suggestions and recommendations at a one-day workshop. ‘Climate Efficient Urban Mobility and Smart City Growth: Case of Karachi City’ was organised by the non-governmental organisation Shehri at a hotel on Thursday.
The topics of discussion included ‘Placing Karachi’s Transport in the Context of Sustainable Urban Mobility: Opportunities and Challenges’ and ‘The Rickshaw Project: An Initiative in Sustainable Urban Mobility’.
The organisers also screened videos on successful case studies in sustainable urban mobility. They cited a number of reports about climate and environment compiled by the United Nations (UN), the World Bank (WB) and other international agencies.
They said that it is being realised that the major battles in tackling the consequences of climate change will be fought in urban centres because the mass of humanity would be inhabited in cities.
The WB has estimated that by 2050 almost 75 per cent of the global population would be residing in cities, where most of the factors contributing to climate change are found, including urban transportation.
According to the data compiled by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 26 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to the transport sector. They said Pakistan is critically challenged when it comes to climate change and has been ranked as the seventh most affected country by climate change in the nonprofit Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk Index of 2017.
The speakers said the country is rapidly urbanising, with the average annual rate increasing by four per cent since 1951. Pakistan’s Planning Commission has estimated that the country would predominantly be urban by 2030, with 45.6 per cent of its population living in urban areas.
While urbanisation is a global phenomenon, the matter of concern is that Pakistan’s cities are expanding without the provision of necessary social and environmental safeguards and considerations for sustainable development.
Highlighting Karachi’s mobility issues, they said that at the core of this crisis is lack of public mass transit and growing dependence on motorised forms of transport, with minimal regulation employed to ensure roadworthiness of vehicles.
While in some cities initiatives have been taken to introduce public mass transit facilities, it is a matter of concern that they are not being effectively merged within a larger urban growth agenda of improved urban mobility, meaning that the benefits attained may not get optimised.
Citing a recent World Bank study, they said public transport, which constitutes around five per cent of the vehicles on roads, carries 42 per cent of the travellers, while private cars carry 21 per cent and motorcycles 19 per cent.
This means that cars and motorcycles that account for 84 per cent of the vehicles on roads carry only 40 per cent of the commuters. The number of passengers competing for a single bus seat in Karachi is 45, which is one of the highest in the world.
Consequently, traffic congestion has become a critical issue in the city, causing environmental problems, loss of productivity and low fuel efficiency. Another problem is that trips made by private vehicles account for 53 per cent of the total mechanised trips being generated.
They said there is also limited understanding or consideration for assessing the impacts of the existing mobility patterns on land use alterations and vice versa, and resulting urban spread. However, all indications point towards the promotion of unsustainable growth patterns. They agreed on the urgent need to initiate a dialogue among key stakeholders to ensure implementation of more climate-friendly and equitable urban mobility measures in Karachi.
