Reviving Lahore

Nadeem:

I would attribute lack of tower cranes to the culture of Lahore. The only multistory housing complex of Gulshane-e-Iqbal (perhaps being used by Allama Iqbal Medical College as hostels) failed in the 80s, reportedly due to the weather conditions of Lahore and to the living habits of Lahoris. Subsequently, no one dared to build multistory buildings.

The situation would be similar in my Mardan. People are used to living in open spaces. they will choke to death in apartment buildings. Mardan, therefore, will never have apartments.

However, I think that fast spreading cities like Lahore (and Mardan) should start depending on multistory housing schemes for the simple reason that the adjoining area will offer more value as agricultural land. The environmental impact assessment should discourage change of land use from agricultural to residential/commercial.

This article has appeared somewhere before. The reference should have been there.
Two places that I can think of; either the Daily times or the The Friday times. I can`t recall where.
Mr. Nadeem Haque please let us know.

From the Left:
Yes, this is a big problem. Zoning curbs on vertical development lead to horizontal sprawl. As urban areas sprawl outwards they tend to push the lower income groups to the periphery. Avoidance of traffic becomes a great motivating factor and proximity to the city center creates high real estate value in the city core and affordability on the fringes. As traveling distances get larger and larger, the number of vehicles on the road and the addition of hard paved surfaces increase exponentially. This situation leads to depletion of the quality of life, a degradation of the environment and the segregation of the society based on class. There is only one solution…

Create a mass transit system allowing wide access to the masses. This will cut down somewhat on income and real estate value disparity between the city core and the suburbs. Encourage high density and high rise development in the city core and on the major transit nodes. This will encourage pedestrian traffic and lead to lesser use of individual vehicles. The pollution will go down, the environment will be stabilized, the population will be more diverse and the quality of life will improve.

For all of the above to work though, you need a coordinated effort to reform all the Public Works sectors: Planning, Building, Zoning, Transportation, Highways, Sewage, Stormwater, Telecommunications, Electricity & Gas.

Most humbly yours,
Left.


From the Right:
I somewhat disagree. Left has articulated the issues well but like all other leftists his solutions are impractical pie in the sky proposals. I have ten very specific & practical proposals that will take care of all of these problems. And they are:

1. Put a General in charge of Planning.
2. Put a General in charge of Building.
3. Put a General in charge of Zoning.
4. Put a General in charge of Transportation.
5. Put a General in charge of Highways.
6. Put a General in charge of Sewage.
7. Put a General in charge of Stormwater.
8. Put a General in charge of Telecom.
9. Put a General in charge of Electricity.
10. Put a General in charge of Gas.

When competent people with discipline and integrity will be in charge of all the departments, everything will fall into place. As our great Preshident would shay, “Thish will mosht shertainly take care of the Shity of Lahore”.

Regards,
Right.

I am honestly trying to stay away from the strong stuff these days

but isnt this piece by Khalid Hasan of TFT?

Ras

no, this article has not appeared before anywhere and no this piece is not by Khalid Hasan. The articles in the friday times by Khalid Hasan were based on this paper of Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque`s. They are good friends.

Nadeem,
Skyscrapers may be good for the ego, but may not be good for the environment. I have seen the rapid urbanisation of several cities in India and I thank God that we do not have skyscrapers. Otherwise, the same piece of land would have to support lots more people. In many places, we depend upon wells and borewells for water, as there is no (or not enough) piped water. If there were skyscrapers instead of three-four storied buildings, imagine the quantity of water that would be required for a small area of land. The water table would shrink to nothing in no time.
Sky scrapers are good for cities that have access to water resources, and can also dispose all the sewage in an environment-friendly way.

Mr. Haque

I agree with you.

I asked a property developer recently what the tax structure on high-rises was. Apparently, the LDA charges on the square footage of the construction. Over this, the LDA has height caps for construction (in Defence, it is 44 feet while on the Gulberg, I believe this has been increased significantly). This does not make sense and reveals that the only thing the LDA has in mind is the collection of revenue off constructions.

A building`s height can be controlled in many ways through tax. One way is to have a flat ceiling tax. This will result in a uniform skyline as developers try and build as much and as high as they can. Another form of taxation is on a formula derived from a ratio of the hieght and depth of a building. This way you will have either short, squat buildings of tall narrow ones. The skyline will appear eclectic.

I`ve had this deiscussion before: The Pakistani state`s approach to taxation is Colonial. It is merely a mechanism to collect that which the state believes it has a God given right to.

On another point: The rapid construction in Gulberg (property prices have increased from 1 crore a kanal in the 1990s to 3.5 crore a kanal in central areas) is because the city fathers have decided to make Gulberg the new commercial area of Lahore. This, in some convoluted way, makes sense: The old city is too congested. Property`s there are subject to dispute or, where not, are incredibly small because of small shares of inheritance in large families. It would be nice, therefore, to see in another 10 years a planned shift to Gulberg, leaving the old city less congested and giving the city fathers an opportunity to renovate the exhausted but beautiful buildings of old Lahore.

On yet another point: The construction of office blocks will saturate the demand for office space in the new commercial areas of Lahore. I am fairly sure that people will want to start shifting from the older, more congested parts of town to be closer to the new commercial areas. What is needed is the construction of residential buildings. Lahore doesn`t have much experience building residential buildings (most of the apartment buildings constructed are no where near the quality of Karachi`s flats, and, in most cases, have spelt financial ruin for their owners). Given new banking products which allow for the finance/mortgage of residences as well as the government`s tax cut for individuals investing in residential properties, this is a sector of the property development market which is set to be invested in.

Regards,
Rafay Alam

Another pathetic example of the ignorence of the ducated pakistanis. High rise buildings are simply a function of the structure of the economy. Thses buildings are suited for only offices, large ones and to support that one needs a healthy corporate sector. In pakistan where the emphasis in cities is on retail trade, and small corporate sector, tyhere is no way that it can have multi storeyed buidings. What will they house, retailers selling pan masala?

Nadeem,

1) It`s the same thing with the Lahore Airport. It seems that the architects and engineers were forced to reduce the scope of the final product.

2)Ravi Kae Kinarae: I guess the Kamran`s Baradari was renovated in early 90s if I am not mistaken. At that time there were a lot of plans to develop it further. But those plans went out of the window as the implementors changed or were shuffled, whatever. Now, Kamran`s Baradari seems to be a meeting place for bhoots and churails vs. normal human beings. I have no issues with the former entertaining themselves at the said place. It`s just that the name of the place needs to be revised to attract the right audience :)

Thank you for a constructive and informative read.

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As I have learned in the nearly 6 years of my consulting profession - you cannot solve a company`s inefficiencies by throwing in latest technology. Technology is not a `solver`, it is merely an `enabler`. You have to improve processes, practices, and cultures to make the best use of technology.

Setting up a `concrete jungle` of high rises in Lahore will not solve our problems. We need to improve our culture and our practices before we can fully benefit from high-rises. Imagine what would happen if put up 60 story buildings in Lahore:

- Each time there is `load shedding`, thousands of people will get stuck in elevators. So perhaps before we set about building skyscrapers, we should solve our energy problems.

- Our culture tends to make us think that environmental issues are other people`s problems. Our waste management practices need to drastically improve before we set up these sky ``crapers``.

- Building codes are typically an after thought in our culture. In an earthquake prone region, following through on strict construction codes is critical. Turkey learned this lesson a few years ago when hundreds of highrises in Istanbul came crashing down in an earthquake.

Lastly, I just want to yell out with pride that I AM FROM LAHORE. Its not the buildings but the people who make a city great. And Lahoris are the best people on earth - skyscrapers or no sky scrapers.

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The ``kothiwallas``, as you named them, are destroying Lahore. The paradox is that those `kothiwallas`` are the same people who are in charge of building Lahore. So where do you go and what do you do? Why can`t the government demolish all the houses in GOR and build two high rise apartment complexes, such as `Eden Heights`` for the government employees to live in. Better still, why not eliminate governement officials` housing? You can`t do it because the people who are in charge of these decisions are the hedonistic ``kothiwallas``, who live for their big gardens, their huge fountains, and their lavish houses.

I think that sewage elimination, loadshedding, etc. are all important issues. However, the major issue is that the huge class divide in Lahore needs to be dealt with. Should the rich be getting richer, while the poor keep getting poorer and the middle class remains stagnant? Should these ``kothiwallas`` be allowed to keep these huge houses, which are do nothing for the development of the city?

As far as the city center is concerned, there is none. Liberty Market is the heart of Gulberg, The big Mcdonald`s area is the heart of Defence, and the Mall side has a heart of its own. A ``city center`` cannot be built because it would need to be placed somewhere in the middle of all these areas. GOR maybe? Who would allow it? The government? The kothiwallas? Think again.

Bureaucracy is a bad, bad thing; corrupt bureaucracy is stifling. There is nothing you can do to develop and change a city that is dominated by this sense of overwhelming bureaucratic power. There are only two hotels in Lahore because the bureaucracy does not want there to be any more, because they think that its in THEIR interest for these hotels to be tucked away in some corner. And hey, what if the hotels can`t provide them with the entertainment, accomodations, and priveleges that their used to? What would happen to their egos then?

Great Article! Bravo for speaking your mind, much to the kothiwallahs discontent!

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you talking about lahore.
i have not seen these cranes in karachi WHERE almost half of is commercial. they are only installed at ports,
thre is a building under construction of 25 floors (which will b the tallest in pakistan) i dont see that crane their either.
what do you expect :):)

There are plenty of Hotels in Lahore,,, go near the Tation and there are a few around there. Who needs MNCs anyway? what is wrong with Hamam and Toaam Hotels? what`s wrong with local joints? and who needs the tower cranes anyway? Shahi Masjid and Shalimar gardens were not built by any Tower Cranes. Be proud of what we have. You can buy a basic tower crane from Amsterdam for 25K and add a locally made scafold to add for as high/long as you wish. It is not the Tower Cranes that build monuments, it is the people. and Highrises are ugly anyway. Regal Chowk is sexier than Times Square by any stretch of the imagination.