Deadly floods, power blackouts and traffic gridlock — many of Asia’s biggest cities are buckling under the strain of rapid economic development, extreme weather and an exodus from the countryside.
Poor strategic planning, paltry investment in infrastructure and a lack of political will have also left the region’s overcrowded metropolises highly vulnerable to the pressures of climate change, experts say.
Over the past year, Bangkok and Manila have been hit by the most devastating floods in decades, while India recently suffered the world’s worst-ever power blackout due to surging demand from industry, homes and offices.
Photo: AFP
It is a situation that is increasingly out of step with growing affluence in Asia, where millions of people escape from poverty every year but face a return to third-world conditions when disaster strikes.
Many Asian cities are “lagging behind in infrastructure provision, whether we talk about sewers, roads or electricity supplies,” said Sun Sheng Han, an urban planning expert at Australia’s University of Melbourne.
At the heart of the problem lies a lack of vision in a region where urban development policies reflect a mixture of “political goals and economic ambitions,” he said.
In the Thai capital Bangkok, years of aggressive groundwater extraction to meet the growing needs of its factories and 12 million inhabitants have taken a heavy toll.
Yet despite warnings the city — built on swampland and slowly sinking — risks being below sea level in half a century from now, a building boom shows no sign of abating with apartment towers mushrooming around the city.
Rapid urbanization that blocks natural waterways and neglected drainage systems are also seen as major factors behind the deadly floods that have battered the Philippine capital Manila this month.
On the outskirts of Manila, vital forested areas have been destroyed to make way for housing developments catering to growing middle and upper classes.
Within the city, squatters — attracted by economic opportunities — often build shanties on river banks, storm drains and canals, dumping garbage and impeding the flow of waterways.
However, perhaps nowhere are the challenges more stark than in India, where a two-day power blackout across half the country last month left more than 600 million people without supplies as high demand overwhelmed the grid.
Yet even now, only 30 percent of India’s 1.2 billion population live in cities, far lower than the 50.6 percent in China or the 70 to 80 percent in developed countries, according to a UN report released last year.
It forecasts India’s urban population will grow by 60 percent from its current level of 377 million, to 606 million, by 2030.
As air conditioners, microwave ovens, washing machines and other electrical items become increasingly popular with the country’s burgeoning middle class, the strains on the power sector are expected to increase.
According to the McKinsey Global Institute research center, India also needs 350km to 400km of new metros and subways a year and 19,000km to 25,000km of roads.
Mumbai — with 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometer — is one of the world’s most densely populated cities.
Its packed suburban trains are estimated to carry 7 million people every day, and each year more than 3,000 people are killed on the railway network, sometimes falling from open doors or hit while crossing the tracks.
“The rush hour is the biggest issue. There are times it’s so crowded, it’s difficult to breathe,” said Sudhir Gadgil, 62, an office assistant in Mumbai’s southern business district, whose commute to work by train takes one-and-a-half hours.
In neighboring Bangladesh, the capital Dhaka is facing the worst transport infrastructure problems in its history.
Soon after taking over in January 2009, the government promised to tackle the crisis with an array of ambitious rail, bus and road projects, but most are still in the design stage.
“Dhaka already is a moribund city. It’s dying fast and I see no hope how we can save it,” said Shamsul Haq, the country’s top transport expert and a professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
However, traffic jams are by no means unique to Bangladesh, and in many teeming cities the prospect of abandoning city life altogether is becoming increasingly appealing for some frustrated residents.
In Jakarta, ranked bottom of 23 cities in Frost & Sullivan’s 2011 global commuter satisfaction survey, experts predict that given its ageing bus network and lack of train system, the capital will reach total gridlock by 2014.
“If it doesn’t change in the next five years, I’m moving to Bali for a more peaceful life,” freelance writer Dian Agustino said in one of the city’s shopping malls.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in