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News from Faisalabad City

In 1996 AUICK started the First Study Course on Specific Fields of Urban Policy, and invited senior officials in charge of the relevant department from nine medium-sized cities selected from nine Asian countries, including Faisalabad City. From 1996 onwards every year one participant from Faisalabad City has attended the seminar in Kobe on different subjects based on that year's theme. Thus, the relationship between AUICK and Faisalabad City has been continuously developed.

RELATIONSHIP WITH AUICK SINCE 1996

At the beginning of the relationship, the Faisalabad City government was run by the mayor elected by the council of the Faisalabad Municipal Corporation (FMC) consisting of 90 councilors. Basically FMC was responsible for the construction of roads, sewerage, sanitation and food etc., while the departments of education, labor and health were administered by the provincial government.

Under the local government plan of the present regime, the Faisalabad District came into existence on 14 August 2001, consisting of six sub-divisions: Faisalabad City, Faisalabad Sadar, Chak Jhumra, Jaranwala, Samundri, and Tandlianwala. Since by virtue of a clause of Section-180 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001 the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) Faisalabad was a successor body of FMC, AUICK continued its relationship with Faisalabad City through TMA Faisalabad. It was headed by Mr. Mumtuz Ali Cheema who was the first Tehsil Nazim (Mayor) of Faisalabad City elected by the people.

In August 2005 Faisalabad City and Sadar were converted into four towns - Lyallpur, Andina, Jinnah and Iqbal - while the remaining four tehsils were given the status of towns. At the subsequent local election, Mr. Rana Zahid Tauseef was elected as Mayor and District Nazim of Faisalabad. After due consideration, AUICK decided to continue its relationship with Faisalabad City through the Faisalabad District Government (FDG), and entrusted Dr. Kareem Iqbal to negotiate the continuation of our relationship with Mr. Tauseef.

The administrative structure of FDG is as follows:

City District Nazim (Mayor) acts as a head of FDG, and perform functions and exercise powers assigned under the Local Government Ordinance 2001.

MONITORING MEETING ON 25 MAY 2004

On 25 May 2004, Dr. M. A. Kareem Iqbal visited Faisalabad City with Ms. Shaheda Fazil, UNFPA Assistant Representative in Pakistan.

They met with Mr. A. M. Mumtaz Ali Cheema, Tehsil Nazim of TMA Faisalabad, and then with two academics of University of Agriculture Faisalabad: Dr. Asghar Cheema, Dean& Head of Department of Sociology.

All four parties -- UNFPA Pakistan Office, AUICK, TMA Faisalabad and University of Agriculture Faisalabad - reached an agreement to work together in collaboration and in accordance with UNFPA-AUICK guidelines.

MONITORING MEETING ON 1 FEB 2005

From 31 January to 3 February 2005, AUICK dispatched a delegation to Faisalabad, composing of Dr. M. A. Kareem Iqbal, Mr. Toshiaki Baba, Deputy Executive Director of AUICK, and Mr. Kyoji Ueda, Director of International Division, Kobe City Government. The delegation had a monitoring meeting with the city officials who participated in the past training courses in the afternoon of 1 February at the Council Hall of Tehsil Municipal Administration Faisalabad. This was the first official visit of AUICK Secretariat to Faisalabad City. Dr. Iqbal facilitated the meeting.

Dr. Iqbal stressed that AAC's role and responsibility is to utilize knowledge and experience obtained through the workshop to solve urban problems, and to aim to become a model city among other middle-sized cities in their country. He pointed out that AUICK was established to collect and disseminate information on urban conditions and urban planning, and to help develop a network of urban administrators in Asian cities, not to provide financial support. Mr. Ueda noted that Kobe City is prepared to offer practical support a in different way to that of AUICK, by arranging tie-up with JICA, JBIC, and other institutions.

Comments from Past Participants

Mr. Rai Mohammad Amin Khan, Tehsil Municipal Officer, Services and General Administration, attended the Second 2004 Workshop on AUICK Associate Cities Research: STELLA Modelling. He indicated that the main problems in Faisalabad City are pollution, transportation, waste management and so on. "To produce positive results after participating in the AUICK training course, financial support is most necessary. For example, we have launched the WASA project, with the financial aid of 3 billion Pakistan Rupee from JICA."

Mr. Safdar Hasan Raja, Director Generalof Faisalabad Development Authority, attended the 1998 Study Course on Specific Fields of Urban Policy. He raised the issue that AUICK training courses should provide information on financial aids. He also proposed to have discussions each day after the course, since just listening to the lecture would not be enough to fully understand them.

Mr. Shajiar Hussain, Chief Medical officer of Health, attended the 1997 Study Course on Specific Fields of Urban Policy. He said that he is now in charge of family planning. "An ultimate goal of medical education is to be physically, mentally and socially fit. As education takes root among people, it will bring about changes in awareness, and population growth will become moderate. The problem is, who will be responsible for giving health education about HIV/AIDS and other subjects? We need this kind of training program, which provides technical knowledge for health care. Human resources, in particular, technical experts should be fostered."

Mr. Syed Ghias Ud Din, Managing Director of Water Supply & Sanitation Agency for the Citizens of Faisalabad, Housing and Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department, attended the 2003 Seminar on Population and Sustainable Water Management in Urban Planning. He suggested that theoretical discussion be followed by practical training, and it be arranged by AUICK for AACs.

Mr. Rai Qamar-Uz Zaman, Deputy Director of the Department of Solid Waste Management, attended three past training courses: the 1996 Study Course on Specific Fields of Urban Policy, the 1998 Study Course on ICPD and Health Care, and the 2004 Workshop on UNFPA Goals and Urban Policies. He underlined the necessity of capacity building for trainers in specific fields. "One example is that the teaching program at Allied Hospital is not so satisfactory. Training for trainers is most in need."

Dr. Iqbal responded that specific fields will be taken up one by one in the coming workshops, including case study on rainwater harvesting in Chennai, and reproductive health program in Thailand and so on. Computer analysis on administrative indicators with Stella model will be another possibility.

Mr. Mumtaz Ali Cheema, Tehsil Nazim (Mayor) of Faisalabad, attended the 2002 Workshop on Population Ageing and Administrative Countermeasures for the Aged. He also attended the AUICK Associate Cities Conference held in Kobe from 31 July to 1 August 2004, and signed the affiliation of AUICK Associate Cities Network. He concluded the meeting as stating "I expect that Faisalabad City will continue to collaborate with AUICK and Kobe City for the future, through our friendly relations."

REVIEW MEETING ON FAISALABAD POPULATION ENVIRONMENTAL DYNAMICS PROJECT ON 2 FEB 2004

The Kobe delegation also held a meeting on 2 February 2005 in the University of Agriculture Faisalabad to review the progress of the baseline study of the Faisalabad Population Environmental Dynamics Project 2004-2007. It was attended by Prof. Dr. Basheer Ahmed, Vice Chancellor, and Prof. Dr. Asghar Ali Cheema, Dean & Head of the Department of Rural Sociology, representing University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Mr. Mumtaz Ali Cheema, Tehsil Nazim (Mayor) of Faisalabad City, and Rai Mohammad Amin, Tehsil Municipal Officer, representing Tehsil Administration Faisalabad.

Dr. Asghar Ali Cheema, as an AUICK's academic collaborator for Faisalabad, made a presentation on the Baseline Study 2004-2007. While highlighting the progress made in the collection of data, he mentioned the inadequacies of data and the need for their validation.

The population of Faisalabad is 2.2 million. It is Pakistan's third biggest City and an important industrial center. The Mayor of Faisalabad gives topmost priority the provision of basic facilities to all citizens. The city is confronted with major problems of solid waste management, defective sewerage and drainage systems, water supply and pollution. High infant and maternal mortality also are areas of concern.

The academic collaborator mentioned that the university can play a significant role to support the City Government in addressing major problems being faced by the City. In addition to research, the University faculty can help design plans and execute various training programs, as well as assist the trainees in implementation and monitoring. It can also develop training modules and organize training courses for city planners and administrators.

It may be recalled that the UNFPA Headquarters has recommended that the Regional Projects funded by UNFPA must be closely linked to UNFPA Country Programs in the 9 countries participating in the Project. Even though Faisalabad is not one of the ten selected districts under UNFPA's Seventh Country Program (CP), it supports activities through AUICK, which can promote not only the goals of 7th CP, but also establish vital linkages for the integration of population, Representative Health and Gender Issues within the district level activities in Faisalabad. UNFPA Pakistan Office nominated Ms. Shaheda Fazil, Assistant Representative as the Liaison Officer for the purpose.

The City Government, in consultation with the academic collaborator, would be shortly submitting a project proposal for financing by JICA.

AUICK's initiatives and efforts in the development of the Faisalabad Population Dynamics Project were greatly appreciated by all concerned.

Memorandum of Understanding

Another important event participated by the Kobe delegation on 2 February 2005 was the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Faculty of Agriculture Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad and the TMA Faisalabad. They inter alia formalized the close working relationship between the academic collaborator and the City Government and UNFPA, when the three parties mutually agreed to:

1. Establish an organization capacity with Faisalabad City to monitor population, socio-economic and environmental issues and to formulate and implement appropriate policies and programs accordingly;
2. Concentrate our efforts, particularly on issues such as Solid Waste Management, Effluent Disposal, Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS, Poverty Alleviation, Education Policies, especially for women and girls;
3. Strive to collect and provide information pertinent to population, socio-economic and environmental issues and related good practices by supporting and expansion of AUICK Web-based data;
4. Strive to establish close collaborative relationship with UNFPA, National and Provincial Governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and non-profit organizations so as to further strengthen the capacity of Faisalabad City.
5. Strive through the activities mentioned above, to serve as a model of a developed medium sized city so as to spread projects yielding positive results for other cities in Pakistan.

MONITORING/REVIEW MEETING ON 10 NOV 2005

Dr. M. A. Kareem Iqbal organized a monitoring/review meeting on the Faisalabad Population Environmental Dynamics Project on 10 November 2005 at the Committee Room of the Faisalabad District Government.

The following persons attended from Faisalabad:

Mr. Athar Hussain Khan Sial,
District Coordination Officer,
City District Goverment
representing Mayor of Faisalabad
(Chair of the Meeting)

Prof. Dr. Asghar Cheema,
Dean, Faculty of Agriculture Economics,
University of Agriculture Faisalabad
(Academic Collaborator)

Dr. Aslam Pervaiz,
Deputy Director,
Solid Waste Management,
City District Government

Mr. Rai Qamar-Uz Zaman,
Deputy Director,
Solid Waste Management,
City District Government

Unfortunately, the newly elected City District Nazim and Mayor of Faisalabad City, Mr. Rana Zahid Tauseef could not attend due to a last minute pre-occupation with the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Mrs. Shaheda Fazil, Deputy Representative of UNFPA (Liaison Officer) also could not attend due to her prior commitment with the earth quake relief work.

Dr. Kareem Iqbal recalled the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 2 February 2005 between the Faculty of Agriculture Economics and Rural Sociology of the Faisalabad Agriculture University and the City Government. He also recalled that the UNFPA Headquarters has recommended that the Regional Projects funded by UNFPA must be closely linked to UNFPA Country Programs in the 9 countries participating in the Project.

As the Academic Collaborator, Dr. Asghar Cheema presented his report on "Baseline Socio-Economics Survey on the Faisalabad Population Environmental Dynamics Project 2004-2007". (The details will be published together with the reports from the other Associate Cities in a book later.)

On behalf of the City Government, Dr. Rai Qamar Uz Zaman made a presentation reviewing the progress so far made in the attainment of UNFPA's, M.D.G.s (Millennium Development Goals) as follows:

1. Solid Waste Management System.

1. Establishment of a Solid Waste Management Department (SWM) in the Faisalabad City
2. Replacement of old method of sweeping by sanitary workers on main roads with mechanical road sweepers.
3. Placement of containers at the temporary Transfer station where previously the waste was lying openly.
4. Development of proper landfill site in process.
5. Shifting of cattle from the main city.
6. 1,500 tons of waste produce daily.
7. Only 70% is transferred to the dumping site with existing machinery.
8. Inadequate number of vehicles for transportation of waste.
9. Non-availability of facility of segregation and recycling of inorganic waste.
10. No proper workshops for vehicles maintenance and repair.

2. Roads

1. Remodeling of main squares of the city.
2. Widening of main roads of the city by removing encroachments.
3. Reconstruction of the main roads of the city.

3. Street Lights

1. Network of Streetlights has been revamped.
2. 13,000 old street light points have been repaired/ replaced.
3. 4,000 new street light points have been added.

4. Parks and the Green Belts

1. Developed 140 kilometers Green Belts.
2. Developed 150 parks; the main ones being Canal Park, Ghausia Park and Rafaqat Ali Park etc.
3. Re-modeling of Bagh-e-Jinnah.

5. Medical and Health Services.

1. Establishment of a general hospital located at Ghulam Muhammad Abad.
2. Establishment of Cardiology and Liver Centre at District Headquarters Hospital, Faisalabad.
3. Installation of incinerator for hospitals based at Allied Hospital.

6. Water Supply System

1. Water Resources: 60MGD.
• Chenab Well Field
• Tube - well along R.B. Canal
• Canal Water Treatment Plant Jhal Khanuana - Millat Town
2. 60% of population now has access to piped water.
3. 40% of Faisalabad households still get drinking water from hand pumps and motor pumps.
4. The underground water of Faisalabad city is saline with the TDS ranging between 2,500 to 1,000 P.P.M.

7. Sewerage and Drainage

1. Existing sewerage situation in Faisalabad is far below acceptable standard.
2. This insufficient sewerage system affects the living condition and health of the entire city's population.
3. 60% of all household connected to street sewerage.
4. 30% of household sewerage discharges into open.
5. 10% of households are with no controlled discharge.

8. Environmental Hazards

1. The textile and grain mills are a major source of air, water and land pollution.
2. Dying process in the textile industry is a major source of pollution that goes unchecked.
3. Untreated industrial waste is also a source of pollution.
4. There is currently no monitoring of air quality in Faisalabad.
5. Vehicles' exhaust pollution containing nitrogen oxides and lead is high.
6. Growing number of smoky and noisy vehicles (Rickshaws, vans etc.).
7. Unsafe disposal of hazardous waste of hospitals. Only 2 hospitals (Allies and District Headquarter Hospitals) have the facility of incineration.
8. Animal driven vehicles also contribute to pollution of environment.

9. Education

1. Upgrading of Govt. College to Govt. College University.
2. Upgrading of Govt. College of Education to University College of Education.
3. Establishment of New Universities namely (University of Faisalabad, and Hamdard University).
4. The actual number of schools has nearly doubled from 1970 to 1997 and enrollment has increased substantially for both girls and boys, while a majority of schools and colleges are over crowded.
5. The physical facilities of the schools are of low quality.
6. Teachers are often untrained and there is general shortage of funds.
7. Buildings are old and insufficient.

10. Population

1. Faisalabad City population has exploded growing from 43,000, its first recorded population in 1931 to 2.5 millions in year 2002-2003. Faisalabad City is unable to control its rapidly growing population, resulting in low quality of life and poor living condition of peoples. 40% of people are living in Katchi Abadies (squatter settlements).

11. Other

1. Shifting of oil depots from the city.
2. Shifting of industries from the residential areas.
3. Removal of encroachments from different roads and bazaars.
4. Shifting of truck stands from the city.
5. Shortage of fire fighting equipment, trained staff and fire brigade vehicles.
6. Shifting of cattle from the city area.
7. Shifting of vegetable markets from the heart of the city.
8. Re-modeling of the general bus stand is in process.

12. Involvement of AUICK

How is AUICK involved in these changes from 1996 to 2005? The participants who participated in these workshops played a major and definite role in all the above-mentioned activities by improvement in the following areas:

1. Maximum utilization of available resources.
2. Definite role of NGOs.
3. Chain of command in administration.
4. Optimum utilization of time
5. Health education.
6. Sharing of experiences.
7. Definite role of women's participation.
8. Development of a pool of professionals through research and trainings.
9. Use of website for effective and timely dissemination of information/ knowledge.
10. Better planning and policies for sustainable urban development.
11. Improving knowledge, awareness and understanding of major issues of population, environment, education, etc.

13. Commitments of Faisalabad City

1. To achieve these goals, the City District Government of Faisalabad is highly committed, but at the same time the major concerns/ requirements of the Faisalabad City have to be reviewed.

After a thorough discussion between the participants, the following recommendations were made for consideration by AUICK:

1. Training courses

1. The duration is very short. They should preferably be at least of 3 months in duration.
2. The subject should be specific to such themes as Solid Waste Management and HIV/AIDS.
3. Scholarships may be arranged for officials of the City District Government Faisalabad, especially relating to Solid Waste Management, HIV/AID preventive health, etc.

2. Projects prepared

In the year 2005 three projects will be prepared by the City District Government and Department of Rural Sociology Agriculture University Faisalabad. These projects will be concerned with:

1. Solid Waste Management
2. HIV/AIDS
3. Baseline data

These projects will be sent by the end of December 2005. AUICK may make special efforts for approval and funding of these projects.

Editor's Note: This article is a summary of two reports presented by Dr. Kareem Iqbal. AUICK takes full editorial responsibility for the content.