Orangi Pilot Project(OPP)

JIYEON (RACHEL) KIM

NOV. 19th, 2010

Orangi Town: Orangi Pilot Project (OPP)

Orangi Town is located in the northwestern part of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is currently the largest slum in South Asia, with an approximate population of 2.5 million.

In the 1980s, its inhabitants became frustrated at the lack of development in the area by the municipal administration and launched a community-initiated Orangi Pilot Project under the guidance of Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan. Their goal was to solve the town's sanitation problems by designing their own low-cost sewerage system, financed and constructed entirely by the local community. With the establishment of the sanitation system they successfully reduced the spread of disease in the local area. Without this socially innovative project, the community would not have had access to a sewer system, since the local government refused to recognize the town.

As a result, communities across developing countries adopted this programme as well. After its initial success, the project extended to finance and manage (on community level) other public facilities like schools, clinics, solid waste disposal and security. On the success of its five basic programs of low cost sanitation, housing, health, education and credit for micro enterprise, in 1988 OPP was upgraded into three autonomous institutions.

Low Cost Housing Program(Extended Part of OPP)

The Low Cost Housing Program aims to improve building components and construction technique, through action research, provision of credit and technical guidance to building component manufacturing yards, training of youths and masons and mobilization of house owners.

Comparing the OPP with his earlier Comilla project, Akhtar Hameed Khan commented:

"The Orangi Pilot Project was very different from the Comilla Academy. OPP was a private body, dependent for its small fixed budget on another NGO. The vast resources and support of the government, Harvard advisers, MSU, and Ford Foundation was missing. OPP possessed no authority, no sanctions. It may observe and investigate but it could only advise, not enforce."

Solution to Sewage Problem
•Development of Orangi natural ‘Nalas’ into box trunks for sewage/rainwater disposal
•Nalas: drainage channels
•Discovered low cost method through research and edcuating local residents
•Technical guidance to construct sanitary latrines in the homes, underground sewerage lines, small secondary sewers
•Trunk mains and treatment plants under gov’t responsibility

Outcome

•72,000 sanitary latrines installed
•1.3 million ft of sewer lines laid out

I thought that OPP is a good example of how a community can solve its problems without the aid of its government. One thing to note, however, was that the project was directed by Dr.Akhtar Hameed Khan who had previously directed another community-level project.

Lane Before the Construction

Lane After the Construction

Orangi Town, Pakistan