Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui has called for vertical development in Karachi as the city heads toward becoming one of the world’s 10 largest urban centers by 2030.
Speaking at the Pakistan Population Summit on Tuesday, he said that tall, multi-storey housing is essential to manage the city’s rapid growth and that Karachi still has enough space where such projects can be planned.
The mayor acknowledged that vertical construction is costly but said it remains the only way forward. Citing examples of Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, he explained that newer parts of Karachi can adopt vertical expansion because infrastructure can be designed from scratch.
Wahab said informal settlements will also require transformation through “out-of-the-box” solutions, warning that traditional methods often create legal and financial barriers. He urged policymakers to treat vertical development in Karachi as a central part of future planning instead of delaying decisions.
Pointing to Karachi’s dramatic population rise, Wahab said the city grew from one million people in 1951 to more than 20 million today.
He criticized the state for failing to develop other urban centers or alternate coastal cities like Gwadar or Zulfiqarabad. This, he said, forced people from across Pakistan to migrate to Karachi in search of opportunities, leading to unplanned urbanisation and a shortage of affordable housing.
He said the Sindh government aims to build 2.1 million climate-resilient houses and is offering free land to encourage proper settlement planning.
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