EDITORIAL: The tragic collapse of a residential building in Lyari, which has claimed at least 27 lives, has once again laid bare the systemic failures in the governance of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and its financial capital.
As rescue operations wound down on Sunday, the core problem came into focus — one that concerns not just the physical structures that crumble, but the institutions that continue to fail the people they are meant to serve.
For years, civil society groups and media reports have warned of the dangers posed by multi-storey, dilapidated buildings in Karachi’s older neighbourhoods, such as Lyari. These warnings have consistently gone unheeded. Urban planning resources are routinely mismanaged or misappropriated, leaving residents exposed to tragedies that are entirely preventable.
The harsh reality is that Karachi’s urban landscape is riddled with illegal constructions, unauthorised modifications, and the use of substandard materials. In the present case, the builder had reportedly added two additional floors to the original structure, illegally and without oversight. Such practices are often enabled by endemic corruption, where bribes and political connections routinely override safety regulations.
The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), tasked with ensuring structural safety, has long faced criticism for its lax enforcement and inability — or unwillingness — to act against violators.
Now, amid mounting public outrage and accusations of criminal negligence, the provincial authorities have declared over 120 buildings in Lyari and nearly 600 across Karachi as dangerous. This figure indicates a deeply flawed and poorly implemented regulatory system.
What makes this situation even more distressing is that the vast majority of people living in these unsafe structures are low-income families who live hand to mouth. They cannot simply pack up and move to safe accommodation in a city already struggling with a shortage of affordable housing.
Expecting them to bear the consequences of a crisis rooted in decades of official negligence and regulatory dysfunction is not only unfair; it is inhumane.
The Sindh government therefore needs to act with both urgency and compassion. Immediate measures must include the provision of emergency shelters for displaced residents and a transparent, adequately-funded rehabilitation plan. This plan should offer rent subsidies, relocation allowances, and access to low-cost housing. The government can — and must — find the resources to ensure that its citizens have safe roofs over their heads.
The Lyari building collapse must be a moment of reckoning. Accountability is crucial. The provincial government must publicly name and take action against both the builder and the SBCA officials responsible. This is not the time for vague promises or symbolic gestures.
The people of Lyari, and others living in similar peril across Karachi, deserve more than routine messages of sympathy from federal and provincial government high-ups. They need justice, safety, and meaningful administrative reform before tragedy strikes again, not after.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025