ML-1 Railway Project Puts Thousands of Homes at Risk in Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore

Nearly 15,000 people across Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore face the risk of losing their homes as Pakistan Railways prepares to begin work on the Main Line 1, commonly known as ML-1, project, according to research using satellite data ground truthed in neighbourhoods along the corridor. Work on the estimated 6.7 billion dollar railway modernisation project is expected to begin in January 2027, and the settlements affected sit within the right of way Pakistan Railways intends to clear along the Karachi to Lahore corridor.

Which Communities Are Affected

In Karachi specifically, six settlements sit along the ML-1 corridor and face full or partial displacement risk: Ghareebabad-PIDC, Kashmir Mujahid Colony, New Sindh Muslim Colony, Umer Colony, Darvesh Colony and Moria Khan Goth. Residents in these areas are overwhelmingly working class, including drivers, domestic workers, salespeople, carpenters, masons and daily wage labourers who both live and work in these neighbourhoods. If a clearance width of at least 25 feet on both sides of the track is enforced as planned, more than 2,400 people would need to vacate in Karachi alone, with the wider corridor through Hyderabad and Lahore accounting for the remainder of the roughly 15,000 total figure.

The Legal Framework Behind the Displacement

Land acquisition for ML-1 proceeds under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, a colonial era law originally designed to let the British state acquire land for imperial infrastructure projects. The Act allows government to acquire land for public use, but only requires compensation where ownership can be formally proven. Residents of the katchi abadis lining the ML-1 corridor in Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore generally lack this kind of formal title, not because they are transient occupants, but because these settlements were never formally recognised by the state in the first place, despite in some cases having existed for three generations or more.

What Rights Groups Have Been Demanding

Civil society organisations have been raising concerns about this project's resettlement approach for months. According to the Urban Resource Centre, a Karachi based research and advocacy organisation, rights groups have specifically warned that Pakistan Railways could use the railway's Right of Way principle as a pretext to acquire more land than is operationally necessary, without clearly defined safety boundaries. The organisation's representatives have noted that in Karachi specifically, roughly 80 percent of land along the railway track's sides is occupied by upscale residential and commercial development, petrol pumps and industrial units, while only around 20 percent consists of informal slum settlements at comparable distances from the track, a distinction rights groups argue matters directly for how displacement burden is being distributed. Advocates have called for a physical survey of all affected settlements, publication of maps clearly identifying affected areas, and a formal resettlement plan to be announced before any eviction or demolition activity begins.

The Sindh Katchi Abadi Act and Its Limits

Sindh does have a legal framework specifically intended to address informal settlements: the Sindh Katchi Abadi Act, 1987, passed by the provincial assembly, established the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority specifically to grant ownership rights to residents of recognised slum settlements. However, according to rights groups, settlements continue to face demolition threats despite this framework, since not every informal settlement along the ML-1 corridor has been formally regularised under the Act, leaving many residents without the documentation the law was designed to eventually provide them.

What International Development Practice Suggests

Resettlement planning frameworks used by international development finance institutions operating in Pakistan generally recognise a meaningful gap between the strict compensation only if ownership is proven standard set by the 1894 Act and more inclusive resettlement principles that account for long term informal occupation. Development finance documentation covering land acquisition and resettlement planning in Pakistan has previously noted that programmes built on the Sindh Katchi Abadi Act framework can provide rehabilitation compensation to occupants and squatters affected by public projects, even without formal prior title, when a proper Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan is developed and followed.

What This Means for Affected Communities and the Wider Project

For residents currently living in the six identified Karachi settlements and comparable communities in Hyderabad and Lahore, the immediate priority is whether Pakistan Railways and the provincial authorities involved commit to a transparent physical survey, published maps of affected areas, and a formal resettlement plan before construction begins in January 2027, as rights groups have specifically demanded. For the wider ML-1 project itself, how this resettlement process is handled carries real reputational and execution risk, since unresolved land acquisition disputes and community opposition have historically been able to delay major infrastructure projects in Pakistan well beyond their original timelines. Anyone with property, tenancy or informal occupancy interests along the ML-1 corridor in any of the three affected cities should seek direct, documented confirmation from Pakistan Railways or the relevant provincial katchi abadi authority regarding their specific settlement's status, rather than relying on the project's overall right of way clearance figures alone.

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Sources

1. Urban Resource Centre, "Resettlement plan sought for people before ML-1 execution": https://urckarachi.org/resettlement-plan-sought-for-people-before-ml-1-execution/
2. Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority, official Sindh Katchi Abadi Act, 1987 and rules document: https://skaa.sindh.gov.pk/storage/rulesRegulations/mDRPPgkvuS3100OJFsrTNMRZmNWZo1fxjwGvIWJq.pdf
3. PRS Legislative Research, official text of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894: https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_parliament/2007/bill167_20080311167_The_Land_Acquisition_Act__1894.pdf
4. Asian Development Bank, official Resettlement Planning Document covering Land Acquisition Act and Sindh Katchi Abadi Act application in Pakistan: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/project-documents/37220-033-pak-rf.pdf