National News

ISLAMABAD, June 11 (APP): The population of the
country is expected to reach 242 million by 2030 and half
of the population will live in urban areas.
The facts and figures shows that the estimated
population in the rural areas decreased from
62.1 percent in 2013 to 59.46 percent in 2017,
whereas.
According to data available on Economic
Survey 2016-17, the population in urban areas
increased from 37.9 percent in 2013 to 40.54
percent in 2017.
The government is well aware of this
issue and is making sincere efforts to improve the quality
of life of the population living in urban cities
through planned urbanization.
For this purpose, the Ministry of Climate Change and the
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN
Habitat) in Pakistan have been working closely
on various initiatives related to sustainable
urbanization and climate change.
These steps include policy formulation and
implementation of climate change vulnerability and
adaptation assessments and urban-related initiatives that
contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The survey said urbanization has the potential to drive
the country towards prosperity and competence.
However this process needs effective tackling of
critical issues like improvement in service delivery,
provision of infrastructure and housing, laws
and regulations related to land use, planning
and observing building code and solid waste
environmental problems.
In Pakistan the urbanization trend is not
different from other countries of the world, as
Pakistan is also facing a rapid increase in
urbanization caused by population growth,
urban migration, and refugees’ migration.
Due to this there is an expansion of
under-resourced urban settlements, which caused
unprecedented levels of economic, spatial, social, and
infrastructural challenges and climate change
impacts.