Urban Transport and Sustainable Transport Strategies:

http://qhxb.lib.tsinghua.edu.cn/myweb/english/2007/2007e3/309-317.pdf




TSINGHUA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ISSN  1007-0214  12 /18  pp309-317
V o l  u m e 1 2 , N u  m b e r 3 , J  u n e 2 0 0 7
Urban Transport and Sustainable Transport Strategies:
A Case Study of Karachi, Pakistan
*
Intikhab Ahmed Qureshi, LU Huapu (陆化普)
 **
Institute of Transportation Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Abstract: The uncontrolled growth in urbanization and motorization generally contributes to an urban land
use and transportation system that is socially, economically, and environmentally unsustainable. This paper
uses Karachi as a case study, which is the largest urban and economic centre of Pakistan, passing through
an uncontrolled phase of rapid urbanization and motorization. The paper first reviews research related to
sustainable transportation systems to comprehend the concept of sustainable development and transportation. The paper then evaluates the existing transportation and infrastructure system, national transportation
policies, and urban transportation projects to determine if the current paradigm is moving toward or away
from sustainable transportation. Furthermore, the principles for sustainable urban transportation are developed to see what significance national transportation policies have given to urban transportation from a sustainable transportation point of view. Finally some strategies are suggested, adoption of which may lead to a
sustainable urban development and transportation system in Karachi.
Key words:  sustainable development; urbanization; motorization; socio-economic; integrated land use and
urban transportation system


Introduction
Urban transportation is a pressing concern in mega cities around the world. The rapid urbanization and motorization in these cities have a direct impact on sustainable development. The transport sector’s energy
consumption and greenhouse gas emissions will likely
be doubled by the year 2025
[1]
 Moreover, the environmental and social impacts of urban transportation .
are increasingly being seen as a menace to the sustainability of the global ecology
[2]
 .
The mitigation of transportation externalities requires a shift towards sustainable transportation systems. The idea of sustainable transportation emerges from the concept of sustainable development in the
transport sector and can be defined as follows
[3]
, “Sustainable transportation infrastructure and travel policies
that serve multiple goals of economic development,
environment stewardship and social equity, have the
objective to optimize the use of transportation systems
to achieve economic and related social and environmental goals, without sacrificing the ability of future
generations to achieve the same goals”.
Adoption of the principles of sustainable transportation has become more important in Karachi, where the
inefficient public transportation system and rising incomes have stimulated the demand for personal mobility with increased automobile ownership and use.
Growing motorization combined with inadequate traffic management strategies, an aging and ill maintained
vehicle stock, and inadequate land use and transportation planning, has all led to a significant level of traffic
congestion resulting in longer travel times, additional  .

fuel consumption, high pollution levels, and a deteriorating urban environment that has a direct bearing on
sustainable development.
The concept of sustainable development and sustainable transportation systems can be understood by
exploring their evolution. In the 18th century economist and philosopher Thomas Malthus hypothesized
that improvements in the quality of life would stimulate population surges that would outpace increases in
the means of subsistence
[4]
 The term sustainable development was first used by World Conservation Strategy (WCS) in 1980 to emphasize the significance of  .
resource conservation without which humanity has no
future
[5]
 Sustainable transportation is an expression of .
sustainable development in the transport sector. A review of the literature has shown a growing emphasis
on developing sustainable transportation systems as
well as policy-oriented studies
[5-7]
 to address transportation related negative externalities such as air and
noise pollution, accidents, congestion and social exclusion, and to meet current and future mobility and accessibility needs without creating excessive negative
externalities. The reviews also established that sustainable transportation systems require a dynamic balance
between the main pillars of sustainable development,
i.e., environmental protection, social equity, and economic efficiency for current and future generations
[8-10]
 .
Balancing of the various economic, social, and environmental factors is difficult so various attempts have
been made
[8,11,12]
 to list indicators that may assist examination of the sustainability of transportation systems. However, one deficiency in the literature seems
to be the lack of consensus on which policies or initiatives will result in a sustainable transportation system,
while another deficiency is the lack of social aspects/indicators because of a lack of knowledge and of
techniques for assessing the social impact of transportation system changes.

The research is based on a case study of Karachi,
Pakistan. Karachi is a mega city having a population of
over 14 million. The city is the financial and business
hub of Pakistan and being the only port city, serves
Pakistan and the landlocked central Asian countries.
The study using available data evaluates the city’s urban development, transport and infrastructure systems,
environmental situation, transport policies, and transport projects. This evaluation seeks to identify if the
current paradigm is moving the city towards or away
from sustainable transportation. Some strategies are
suggested based on the evaluation.
1  Overview of Karachi’s Urban
Development
Karachi is characterized by an accelerating rate of suburban growth. Its growth rate has been phenomenal as
shown in Table 1. The city has seen a 35-fold increase
in its population and an almost 16-fold increase in its
spatial expansion since the emergence of Pakistan.
Moreover, estimates are that by the year 2015, the city
may reach a population of 19.2 million with an annual
growth rate of over 5%
[13]
 .
Table 1  Karachi metropolitan population and area
growth rates1111111111111111111
Year Population (million) Area (km
2
 (
1947   0.4    233
1981    5.3   1994
1998    9.8    3527
2004    14.0   3566

The population density of the city according to the
1998 census is tabulated in Table 2, which shows that
the density of different areas varies from the central
city (33 014 persons/km
2
) to the outskirts (433 persons/km
2
). Karachi is basically a mono centric city
where over 70% of the business services and about half



Table 2  Area, population, and population density of Karachi in 1998
[14]
Location
Area
(km
2
 (
Population
(persons)
Density
(persons/ km
2
 (
Urban propor-
tion (%)
Karachi East 139   2 746 014    19 756    100.0
Karachi West 929   2 105923     2267      190.7
Karachi South 122   1 745038     14 304    100.0
Karachi Central 69    2 277931     33 014      100.0
Malir 2268    981 412     433         67.3
Total    3527        9 856 318  


of the retail trade and personal services are located in
the central business district (CBD). About 50% of the
employment in the wholesale trade and transport sector
is in the CBD.
Rapid population growth and spatial expansion have
led to a sharp increase in demand for urban transport
facilities and services as the densification and spatial
expansion have occurred with no development planning. Since 1949 five development plans have been
prepared for Karachi
[15]
, but never implemented. As a
consequence the city suffers from a chronic shortage of
basic facilities like dwelling units, water supply, electricity, and public transport. The shortage of dwelling
units has been largely responsible for the emergence of
squatter settlements. At present, about 55% of the total
population resides in these squatter settlements
[16]
 The .
socio-economic and environmental conditions in these
settlements are dismal with the majority of these squatter settlements located far from the major job markets.
The residents of these areas are poor and are captive
riders of limited and low quality public transport
services.

2  Evaluation of Transportation and
Infrastructure Systems
The increased urbanization and economic growth in
the city has put a tremendous pressure on travel demands. The increased demand has quickly filled the
roadway infrastructure as about 33%  of  all  motorized
vehicles in the country throng on its roads and    
expressways.
Figure 1 shows that in 2002 the total registered vehicles and cars were growing at twice the growth rate
of the population while Fig. 2 shows that the vehicle
fleet is dominated by cars and motorcycles, which account for 92% of the vehicles as compared to 6% for
para transit vehicles and 2% for public transport vehicles. This rapid rise in personal vehicle ownership and
the lack of economic instruments, such as charged
parking and road pricing, has led to enormous congestion especially in the central part of the city which increases the average commute travel time in Karachi by
over 45 min.

2  Lyari expressway and Northern bypass
The construction of the 32.1 km long 4 lane Lyari expressway will improve inner city vehicular movement,
while the 57 km long 6 lane Northern bypass planned
to divert heavy upcountry traffic outside the city will
hopefully ease traffic pressure in the city and will give
a much cleaner and pleasant environment to the people.
Moreover, for fiscal year 2005-2006, the city government has approved Rupees 6.00 billion (US$ 100 million) for construction of roads, bridges, flyovers, under
passes, bus terminals, and other development works
[26]
and US$ 225 million for construction of a 24-km-long
elevated expressway
[27]
 However, the current modernization of the transport infrastructure (construction .
of the elevated expressway, underpasses, flyovers, etc.)
which seeks to solve Karachi’s traffic congestion will
provide no more than temporary relief. The experience
of other mega cities suggests that a huge investment on
construction of high capacity roads and the provision
of a large number of flyovers and underpasses will not
mitigate traffic congestion or enhance vehicle speed.
For example, the congestion in Beijing can be quantified from the declining vehicle speeds from 45 km/h in
1994 to 10 km/h in 2005 especially between the second
and third ring roads, which is now extending beyond

fourth ring road and along major radial and arterial
roads
[28]
 .
5.3  Rail-based mass transit system
A rail-based mass transit master plan has identified
three corridors with the revival of the KCR as an integral part of the system. The whole project will be built
on the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis. Figure 4
shows that Corridor 1 that runs northeast and southwest will be constructed in two stages. Stage one is a
15.2-km route which will have some elevated and
some underground portions, with Stage two extending
the system to another 8 km. Corridor 2 will have a
13.4-km line along the north and south axis of the city.
The KCR line needs revitalization for 50 km of length.
Fig. 4  Priority corridors of rail-based mass transit
system
[20]
6  Suggested Strategies
The evaluation of the transport and infrastructure system, transport policies, and development projects for
the Karachi urban transportation system in Sections 2,
4, and 5 leads to some strategies for sustainable development of the transportation system in Karachi. Suggested strategies on urban  transportation system are
evaluated in Table 7.
6.1  Change the urban form and land use patterns
Karachi is basically a mono centric city where a large
proportion of activities are carried out in the CBD resulting in a great mismatch between jobs and residence
locations. To avoid overdevelopment of the CBD the
urban functions should be decentralized by developing
new urban areas and urban fringes by constructing
multiple business areas. Moreover, these multiple centers should be developed on the principles of    
smart growth which requires balance between  job  and