The fallacy in mega-development projects

This trend of showing the government's performance and claim to modernizing a province through development projects is taking a toll on the concept of judicious development and will be dangerous in coming years. Urban centers need development and better infrastructure but that should always be according to the need of the urban center and should be fair to the rest of the province or periphery, if you may like to call. For instance, the Peshawar BRT will cost Rs. 70 bn. Most of it are loans which have to be paid from the resources/revenue of the whole province. 6 bn rupees of tax board have been thrown into the project alongwith a lionshare of the development fund.

Other than this focus on mega-development projects being un-judicious and further promoting of the urban/rural divide, this is also causing senseless and unparalleled damage to the landscape and environment of the cities being developed. Peshawar, in summers, is ablaze but for BRT, 25,000 trees have been cut down (this is official PDA count, the actual may be much higher). Imagine the catastrophe losing the tree cover will bring in coming years. The project also has put to ruins the historical landscape and unique cultural scene of the city. An argument for an alternative to the BRT could be made. The ring road (which surround Peshawar) could have been upgraded and service roads being revamped and others developed to connect it to the city centers with widening of the inner city streets; and flyovers at some pressure points would have solved the traffic problem of Peshawar.

But that wouldn't have made a good election campaign ticker and that wouldn't have been a development large enough to boast about and paraded as 'revolutionary'. The damage caused to environment in Peshawar is irreversible. And all that for a project whose purpose could have been served by an alternative environment-friendly and judicious development. The money could have been put to use for desperately needed development in the south and in the far-flung areas of the north. But alas! Gimmicks and glamour always win the day and defeat sensible development.