The recent torrential rains, around 200 millimeters in three days, have once again exhibited the chaotic and fragmented governance of Karachi. Floods revived the confusion about which agency or municipal agency is responsible for basic services, further feeding public frustration and intensifying the debates about how the city is governed.
On the other side of the border in Mumbai, almost 800 millimeters of rain for only four days interrupted the lives of millions, flooding roads, grounding flights and stopping train services, while large parts of the city lay submerged in water to the waist.
However, the comparison is surprising: both cities support the same climatic clashes, but Mumbai absorbs the impact and recovers, while Karachi repeatedly hesitates. The contrast underlines a deeper reality: governance, financial capacity and urban planning make a difference.
The Crisis of Vivility in the course of Karachi stands out for its classification as the fourth less habitable city in the world, 170 of 173 cities, in the Global Vivility Index of the intelligence unit of 2025. On the contrary, Mumbai is located in the 121st, which reflects the somewhat better, although still challenging urban conditions.
Karachi and Mumbai are megacities of more than 20 million people. But while Mumbai has built stronger urban institutions, Karachi has systematically weakened by political fragmentation and deliberate negligence. The results are visible everywhere: in the collapse infrastructure, inappropriate services and the decrease in the quality of life.
The financial contrast is evident. The 2024–25 budget of the Municipal Corporation of Brihanmumbai is INR26,835 million rupees, around $ 3.2 billion. That is equivalent to $ 160 per person for a population of approximately 20 million. Almost 76% of these income is collected locally, through property taxes, public services and developmental fees, with the rest of the transfers of the State of Maharashtra, including INR9,984 million rupees in the Octroi compensation.
This robust base allows Mumbai to continue investing in infrastructure and services year after year. Karachi, in comparison, is fighting.
The 2025–26 budget of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation is RS55 billion, only $ 196 million. Add in other municipal agencies, acantonments, DHA and provincial departments, spending throughout the city is estimated in only $ 300 million to $ 500 million, although the lack of transparency makes it difficult to obtain a clear fiscal image of the entire city.
For a population of 20 million, this translates into only $ 14.7 to $ 25 per person annually, from six to eleven times less than Mumbai. Such chronic sub -financing results in failed services, crumbled roads and water that millions of homes never reach.
The Mumbai suburban railroad illustrates what a serious urban planning can achieve. It extends through 450 kilometers of track, operates more than 2,300 daily trains services and transports more than 7.5 million passengers every day. Karachi, in contrast, has nothing comparable. The city depends on decrepit buses, minibuses, rickshaws and vans, all overpopulated and unreliable.
The Sindh government has promised 8,000 electric buses, but real delivery has just begun. The Karachi Breeze Bus Rapid Transit project has plunged in delays.
The construction of the green line began in 2016, however, it only opened partially in 2021 after the financing gaps, bureaucratic supports and pandemic. For a city of this scale, the absence of functional mass transport is paralyzed.
Karachi’s financial and service problems worsen with chaotic urban planning.
It has become a concrete jungle marked by unbridled corruption, a real estate development without control and the absence of a robust local government system. In addition to the city planning failures, the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA), responsible for regulating the construction and application of security codes, has been plagued with incompetence, corruption and weak application. A tragic example occurred in July 2025, when a five -story building in Lyari collapsed, killing 27 people.
The DHA and Acantonation Tables control the rich areas (DHA covers approximately 36 square kilometers (1% of karachi), malir clue to about 12 square kilometers, with the six cantons and DHA together that handle 20-30% of the city.
The PPP Sindh government led, in power since 2008, supervises the remaining 70-80%, where 17 million Karachi residents live (according to the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation website). It has the main responsibility of the chronic failures of the city and the decomposition of development.
The fragmentation undermines governance in its nucleus. Each municipal or cliff organism operates independently, with little coordination to allow economies of scale, shared investments or strategic planning. The result is duplicate duties, conflicting priorities and weak responsibility. Many describe Karachi’s fragmented governance as little more than the division of the territory among the powerful interested.
Karachi’s sub -presentation in politics adds to this negligence. The city chooses 22 of the 266 members of the National Assembly of Pakistan (8.3%) in general seats, and 47 of the 130 members of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh in general seats (36.1%), but has only two federal seats (of 43) and two provincial ministries (of 18). The imbalance reduces Karachi’s influence on decisions on budgets and reforms, despite its economic weight and demographic importance.
The faults of the city are more visible in the water. The Karachi Water & Alecterage corporation supplies around 423 million gallons per day, just a third of 1,080 – 1,200 mgd required. This gap forces the dependence of more than 10,000 water oil tankers, many controlled by a “oil mafia” accused of diverting an estimate of 272 mgd, or 41% of the city’s supply. Karachi also loses 30 – 40% of the water pipes through leaks of an aging network, some of them that date back to the 1950s.
Beyond the water, Karachi suffers every day for blocked traffic, collapsed waste management and inappropriate rain drainage that leads to floods with each monsoon. Climate risks aggravate these crises: heat waves and intense storms increasingly threaten millions of residents. Informal settlements, where the basic infrastructure is absent, are the most affected.
In marked contrast, Mumbai demonstrates how strong institutions, financial autonomy and political empowerment support resilience. Its ability to increase significant local income, while attracting state resources, maintains a continuous investment in services. The lesson is clear: coherent governance and empowered local organisms are crucial for survival and urban growth.
Karachi, however, is governed by a model that resembles urban apartheid. The rich neighborhoods enjoy higher services and infrastructure, while mostly medium, and low -income areas, face implacable decrease and negligence under the provincial government of Sindh.
The Clifton bridge, widely seen as a physical and symbolic division, separates these privileged enclaves from the rest of the city. While around 380,000 residents live south of the bridge, 98% reside beyond it, highlighting a rigid limit between the privilege and negligence that underlines the deep socio -economic segregation by fracturing the urban fabric of Karachi.
The way forward requires urgent reform. Karachi must unify its municipal and clogged authorities fragmented in a single metropolitan organism to allow strategic planning, reduce waste and improve services. Strengthening local income collection is essential. Bold investments are needed, especially to rehabilitate water pipes and dismantle exploitation posters such as the oil mafia.
The 2018 Karachi City diagnosis of the World Bank estimated almost $ 10 billion in capital investment for a decade to close criticisms in transport, water, sanitation and waste management, key to make Karachi habitable and economically competitive.
As Pakistan’s economic column, Karachi’s future has a serious risk. Decades of negligence, dysfunction and sub -financing have taken the city to the edge. Without bold reforms, increased financing and unified governance, Karachi faces collapse: crumbled infrastructure, growing inequality and growing disturbances.
Upon realizing that its potential requires political will, competent leadership and a national commitment to save a city, Pakistan cannot afford to lose.
Discharge of responsibility: The views expressed in this piece are that of writer and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of PakGazette.TV.
The writer is the former head of the emerging market investments of Citigroup and author of ‘The Gathering Storm’.
Originally published in the news
