Mr. Amjad Khan, Academic Administrator for Computer Science Department of Kardan University participated in the “International Workshop on Sustainable Cities: Issues and Challenges of Rapid Urbanization” held in COMSTECH secretariat based in Islamabad from January 28-29, 2020. The focus of the workshop was concentrated on the implementation of “UNSDG11”, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and how member states can provide the required services for its citizens, particularly in urban areas.

COMSTECH, Organization of Islamic Cooperation Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, is the ministerial standing committee of Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and its responsibility is to provide road map and bring positive changes in society of member countries via advanced scientific and technological development.

In 2015, 195 nations agreed with the United Nations that they can change the world for the better. This will be accomplished by bringing together their respective governments, businesses, media, institutions of higher education, and local NGOs to improve the lives of the people in their country by 2030. For this purpose, 17 sustainable development goals were set up and all these members nations agreed to achieve these goals by 2030. Out of these goals, Sustainable Cities comes on number 11th.

All participants in the workshop agreed upon the fact that for a city to sustain, the government must provide five services to its citizens on daily basis which are as follows:

• Clean Water: It is an essential commodity and a survival need for everyone. The day starts and ends with water and it is required for washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking. It is the government responsibility to provide clean water to all its citizens.
• Electricity: Electricity acts like oxygen for modern everyday life and is needed 24 hours a day.
• Public Transport: Public transport acts to a city like blood in human body. This requires that there is efficient access to facilities in any part of the city. Therefore, an efficient city-wide public transport system must operate 24 hours a day. Without efficient public transport, facilities across cities cannot be accessed, defeating the very purpose of a city.
• Solid Waste Management: Solid waste generated on a daily basis need to be disposed of systematically every day. It was observed during different sessions of workshop that the main cause of urban flood is improper waste management. Therefore, it is government’s responsibility to make proper arrangements to deal with it in cooperation with individuals.
• Waste Water: Millions of people live in metropolitan cities like Kabul and Karachi. They use a lot of water on daily basis and produce waste water that needs to be drained out immediately 24 hours a day.

All participants agreed that for a city sustain, a metropolitan authority need to be established. This authority must work for proper planning, attracting private investment for providing the above mentioned essential services and perform overall management. The authority also must remove the constitutional deficiency, political divide and should combine the fragmented service delivery organization.
Read more about sustainability here: https://kardan.edu.af/sustainability/