By: Mahar Murrawat Hussain
We are living in an era in which shiny high-rises and sprawling gated communities qualify as a yardstick of development and progress. People who have made fortunes out of the real estate development business in Pakistan vociferously advocate that land development is a panacea for all economic and social issues currently bedeviling the country. They argue that it spurs growth which is equally beneficial for the state and society. Or so they thought.
By such sort of cunning argument, they take both government and public for a ride. For one, the claim that these fast cropping up gated communities serve to address the housing issue falls flat when confronted with reality. The societies so developed are only meant for a modicum of affluent people while the poor can only look on from outside, not even allowed to get into there. What is more, there are instances where hapless poor people were forcefully evicted and their houses were flattened to vacate the land for Elite’s cosy dwellings. How people in the outskirts of Karachi were deprived of their land and ousted from their ancestral villages to realise the project of Bahria Town was a case in point.
Secondly, the claim that economic activities generated from the construction of posh areas for the so-called privileged class would have trickle-down effect and every social stratum would reap it’s benefits is nothing more than a humbug. In fact, if anything, the glimmering lights coming out of these symbols of elitism have served to further alienate the poor. The poor fall prey to the inferiority complex by seeing dwellings of so-called superhumans.
Moreover, the never-ending housing spread is fast devouring large swathes of fertile agricultural lands, thereby jeopardizing national food security. According to Kissan Board, a non-governmental agricultural advisory and research organization, housing schemes have so far eaten up 20-30 percent of fertile land in Punjab. In Lahore alone, 70 pc of agricultural land has been converted into gated communities. The other cities of the province could also not have escaped this grim phenomenon. With the business-as-usual scenario, the country would be landing into a grave food security issue of unprecedented levels in the years to come. Also, these provide the corrupt and tax-evaders safe havens to park their ill-gotten wealth by investing in real estate. The government’s announcement last April that no question would be asked about the source of income invested in the construction sector proved a blessing for people with black money.
Apart from this, mushrooming housing societies pose serious threats to the environment as well. It is no secret that hundreds of trees are chopped down every year by real estate developers in the name of land development, diminishing the earth’s green cover. Dwindling green cover means higher urban temperature. The environmental implications of this activity are already palpable in the shape of air pollution, groundwater depletion and an overall rise in temperature. Regression in Lahore’s Air Quality Index is nothing but a fallout of the dwindling green cover. Thus the path we are treading right now is leading us towards a complete disaster. This land development is proving a recipe for a disaster instead of turning out to be a panacea. Hence, we direly need a course correction. Government should wake up to this situation before it spirals out of control. Policies need to be put in place to discourage this dangerous spree. After all, this spree has turned out to be a bane for the country.
The writer is a Police Officer. He can be reached at [email protected]