Key takeaways
- Mobility failures cost developing countries an estimated 2–3% of GDP a year.
- Karachi, with more than 25 million people, still has no mass-transit system.
- Rigid zoning separates homes, shops and industry and kills mixed-use density.
- Cities are underfunded because they are run by provincial bureaucracies.
- Empowered metropolitan governments in Istanbul, Seoul and Singapore show the alternative.
In this Paradigm Shift column (December 2025), Dr. Ghulam Mohey-ud-din sets out the economic cost of how Pakistan’s cities are planned and governed. Cities generate more than half of national output, yet their design and management actively hold back productivity.
The argument
Mobility is the most visible failure. The column cites estimates that congestion and poor transport cost developing countries 2 to 3 percent of GDP a year and argues that Pakistan’s losses are likely higher. Karachi, home to more than 25 million people, has no mass-transit system; Lahore’s metro serves only part of the city, and most commuters rely on rickshaws and minibuses. Businesses absorb the cost through wasted time, fuel and unreliable logistics.
Land use makes things worse. Low-density gated suburbs spread cities outward and lengthen commutes, while colonial-era zoning rules keep residential, commercial and industrial activity apart. That removes the mixed-use density that lets small firms cluster, share customers and innovate.
Behind both sits weak city governance. Municipal functions are fragmented under provincial bureaucracies, local governments lack budgets and planning powers, and informal settlements go without water, sanitation and connectivity. Cities that have turned themselves around, from Istanbul and Dubai to Singapore and Seoul, did so with empowered metropolitan governments.
What needs to change
- Reliable mass transit instead of car-centred road building.
- Mid-rise, mixed-use housing near jobs rather than speculative sprawl.
- Flexible, density-friendly zoning and digitised permits for small businesses.
- Strong local governments with their own budgets, planning authority and accountability to residents.
The column’s point is that these are structural reforms, not beautification projects, and that national growth depends on them.