Lack of coordination among developmental organizations is a major handicap, points out Arif Hassan
Chief Operating Officer (Generation and Transmission), K-Electric, Dale Sinkler has said it was high time for upcoming engineers to come out with innovative ideas to transform Karachi into a smart city. Speaking as the Chief Guest in the inaugural session of The 32nd IEEEP National Engineering Students Competition (NESC) 2017 in Sir Syed University he said ,
the engineers needed to step out of the box and to look outside to bring the desired change.
“There would be no change if you are reluctant to look forward to bring the change. This is your city. You have to plant the first seed to make fruit to come.”
He urged them to do different things to get different results in relation to “Hack Town” concept. The event was organized by the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEEP) in collaboration with Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET). The NESC’17 was in continuation with regard of the series of IEEEP All Pakistan Students’ Seminar that is held each year. The competition included Final Year Engineering Projects and Hack Town – the theme for smart city.
Dale Sinkler called upon the upcoming engineers to utilize their engineering talents to make Karachi “Smart City” through their innovative projects. Earlier Vice-Chancellor SSUET, Prof. Dr. Jawaid H. Rizvi, welcomed the chief guest and the keynote speaker, organizers and participants and described the event a high profile thematic subject concerning every one. He hoped that the competitors would utilize their mettle to come up with innovative ideas to achieve the desired results. Eminent architect engineer, Arif Hasan, shared his views and concerns about “Hack Town” concept and said that the results will remain unachieved unless the planning broadly consists of a number of closely inter-connected subjects like demography, social and physical infrastructure and management, economy, environment, ecology and now environment of the citizens. Arif Hasan pointed out that the major handicap is the lack of coordination among the organizations that develop and manage the ingredients of urban planning and they are totally unaware of each other’s activity. In this regard he cited the example of university road.Karachi Development Plan 2000 was made to link the Karachi Master Plan Department with KMC, KESC, Karachi Gas but it failed because of not using modern technology, initiating training programmes for the staff members and scarcity of trained/skilled staff. The session ended with a vote of thanks by Registrar SSUET, Syed Sarfraz Ali. Chairperson IEEE Karachi Chapter Asif Siddiqui and Convenor Mona Kanwal also spoke on the occasion.
