Half of Pakistan's population predicted to be living in cities by 2025: FPCCI

KARACHI: Convener of Central Standing Committee on Urban Development of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), Obaid Saleem Patel has pointed out that by 2025, half of Pakistan's population is predicted to be living in cities.

He said that this steeply rising urbanisation trend in Pakistan will increase pressure upon the already fragile state of affairs of Pakistani cities, by compounding the existing acute housing shortage of nearly 10 million units, further burdening basic utilities' demand like electricity, water and gas, putting pressure on the need for a robust and subsidised public transport in cities catering larger number of commuters, affordable and easily accessible health and education etc.

Speaking at first meeting of the committee, he noticed that Pakistani cities were contributing less to the GDP (55 percent) in spite of having a higher urbanised population then some other regional countries and pointed out that better urban development with an eye on the future and inter departmental coordination amongst provincial and local governments can help encourage smart planning and efficient distribution of important resources and prevent leakages and losses and help build a conducive environment for cities and businesses to efficiently contribute to the national exchequer likely resulting in higher tax revenues for the government.

Vice President FPCCI Sheikh Sultan Rehman acknowledged the importance of proper planning and systematic development of Pakistani cities for the business community and expressed hope that this committee's recommendations are paid heed to by the government and extended FPCCI's support in the matter for the business community.

Members attending the meeting highlighted the need to make use of international standards in town planning and zoning with renewed master planning and relevant building by laws to develop Pakistani cities along modern lines to encourage foreign investment and tourism in Pakistani cities, resulting in economic growth.

Vice Admiral (R) Syed Arifullah Husseini observed that under the current Covid-19 pandemic, the need for urban planning had become even more relevant and the need for building smaller cities across Pakistan to cater to pressure upon existing infrastructure has become necessary to guarantee provision of basic facilities like health and education to the populace can be ensured and the per sq feet to number of persons living ratio can be drastically improved and large businesses can expand outwards in smaller industrial hubs so Pakistan can become a regional economic hub and increase her GDP.

The committee finally laid emphasis upon the need for closer liaison with relevant government officials to make use of the current government's vision of vertical growth in cities to cater to swelling urban population, encouraging renewable energy policy and green friendly initiatives in line with climate change so that the actionable suggestions of the business community regarding urban development and economic growth could be deliberated upon for the future generations of urban Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020