Cheaper with deeper evils

The largest city of Pakistan has been put among the list of cities that are cheapest in terms of cost of living by the Economist Intelligence Unit(EIU). In its latest report, Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 EIU has ranked Karachi among the ten cheapest cities out of a list of 133 cities worldwide.

For a second that might look like some positive news about Karachi amid myriad examples of its debilitating state. However, its position on the index has much less to do with prosperity and much more to do with distress the city is dwelled in. While lower inflation might have played some role here (average petrol prices per litre have come down from $1.23 to $0.68 in the last 5 years) - and the report also highlights that currency fluctuations continue to be a major cause for changes in the ranking for countries this time - Karachi's position on the index is scarred with its evils.

For one, look at ten cheapest cities that accompany Karachi in the list. While India has been offering best value for money in South Asia, lower quality of life has been a key feature of the South Asian region. Whether its income inequality, lack of jobs, lower wages, lower standards of living, almost all cities at the bottom of the index have these commonalities. Furthermore, many countries represented by the cheaper cities have some sort of instability going on, be it political, economic, geographic or war-like situation. And instability is one factor that is lowering the cost of living in these cities - making them less liveable as summarized by the report.

Karachi is surely less liveable by the day. The city lacks basic infrastructure development, institutions, governance, basic amenities, you name it.

The largest metropolitan of the country needs a plan with immediate execution, which is another challenge for the city as no one is willing to take ownership of the city's problems.

In a recent development, the World Bank has estimated that the city needs $9-10 billion financing in the next 10 years to meet its infrastructure and service-delivery needs in urban transport, water supply and sanitation, and municipal solid waste. More on the details of the plan in the coming week.