Orangi Pilot Project: the expansion of work beyond Orangi and the mapping of informal settlements and infrastructure

This paper describes the work of the Pakistan NGO, Orangi Pilot Project-Research and Training Institute (OPP-RTI), in supporting improved provision for sanitation and other services in Orangi and other informal settlements in Karachi, and in other cities and smaller urban centres in Pakistan. It also describes an OPP-RTI programme to map and survey informal settlements in Karachi, and the youth training programme that supported this, and also the support for OPP-RTI partners in mapping in other urban centres. Improving infrastructure and services, and house upgrading in informal settlements, has been hampered by a lack of maps showing plot boundaries and existing infrastructure. Documenting and mapping these informal settlements has a number of important repercussions for urban policy, planning and infrastructure investment, as it demonstrates people’s involvement and investment in development. As a result, planning agencies and local governments have realized the need to support this work, rather than ignoring or duplicating it, and this has had important implications on how infrastructure is planned, financed and managed. As the paper describes, this includes greatly reducing or removing the need for international loans to finance such investments.