The biggest metropolitan city faces a long-standing sewage dispos­al and cleanliness crisis. During the monsoon, urban flooding ex­acerbates an already devastated sewage system. Where will all the excess water go? Nowhere, precisely. The President’s directive to Kara­chi’s mayor and authorities, in the presence of the Chief Minister of the province, is a timely call. The city needs a robust sewage and excess rain­water disposal plan. The downside is that many such plans have been announced for Karachi time and time again, but no implementation has been seen. One can only hope that this time the feasibility work for sew­er tunnels is completed within the given three-month deadline.

Karachi’s administrative stalemate is hard to understand. Consistent­ly under the rule of one political party, there is hardly any excuse for the negligence the Pakistan Peoples Party has shown towards Karachi spe­cifically and Sindh more generally. If the biggest city is so unplanned that rainwater stays on roads and streets for weeks on end, the PPP needs to take a good hard look at their policies and development prior­ities. In the style of politics where big cities become the mark of perfor­mance, Karachi presents a sorry picture of its administrators.

Coming from the President himself, the work for sewer tunnels must be done diligently. Buzzwords like sustainability and sustainable cities are not enough. The citizens deserve to walk on clean streets and drive on roads without having their vehicles half-sunk. Even for other big cit­ies in the country, strategies to cope with urban flooding must be a pre­requisite for all development projects and new constructions. Messing up urban planning and letting cities grow without any planning is an early call for cities in unending crises. Karachi is a case study, and for the administrators, it is better late than never.