City-Level Decoupling-Case Studies

CITY-LEVEL DECOUPLING: URBAN RESOURCE FLOWS AND THE GOVERNANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSITIONS

12. Sanitation provision in low income settlements in Orangi, Pakistan 92

By Perween Rahman (Director of OPP-RTI, the Orangi Pilot Project’s Research and Training Institute)

Following Pakistan’s independence and the partition of India in 1947, Karachi experienced a large scale influx of refugees which more than doubled its population over 4 years. Overwhelmed by the challenge of accommodating these additional people, refugees were allowed to settle in open pieces of land which soon expanded to become unofficial settlements, known locally as KatchiAbadis. In the mid 1970s, the government acknowledged that it was unable to provide land or housing for the poor, and formally accepted these settlements by providing land titles and committing to upgrading the areas. About 60% of Karachi’s total population of 15 million live in KatchiAbadis. Some 72% of these areas have been notified by the government, while 35% of the houses have been provided land titles and the remainder are in process. Government and private land is typically sold to the poor via a middle man, who subdivides the land and uses links with politicians, government departments and private operators to arrange access to services like water. As the settlement expands and consolidates, the need for piped water, sewage disposal, schools and clinics increases, but the government can at best respond in an ad hoc fashion. As a result, community-driven efforts to gain access to services have become commonplace in Karachi. The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) is a non-government organisation that was started in 1980 to strengthen people’s initiatives to provide water, sewage disposal, schools and clinics in Orangi town, which houses 1.2 million people in a cluster of 113 low-income settlements on the periphery of Karachi. The project provides social and technical guidance within the poor communities, and helps micro enterprises to access credit whilst partnering with government on complementary large-scale investments. It supports communities in financing, managing and maintaining facilities like sewerage, water supply, schools, clinics, solid waste disposal and security at the neighbourhood level. Government invests in larger facilities like trunk sewers and treatment plants, water mains, colleges, hospitals and landfill sites that support the community interventions. By harnessing the willingness of the poor to improve their living conditions, this 'component-sharing concept' alleviates some of the burden placed on government to extend services to the poor. The OPP’s work spans a number of areas, including low-cost secure housing, affordable sanitation, education, earthquake and flood rehabilitation, health education and family planning, credit for micro-enterprises, institution building and community development. It identifies areas for intervention by analyzing outstanding problems in the area, considering which people’s initiatives are addressing these issues, and identifying the bottlenecks in these initiatives. Through a process of action research and extension education, viable solutions that promote participatory action are developed and implemented.

The application of the component-sharing concept to the OPP’s Low Cost Sanitation Program is an example of how government and homeowners can share the costs and responsibilities of extending

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