Road Hazards in Karachi: What Every Citizen Should Know

The State of Karachi's Roads in 2025-2026

Karachi, Pakistan's largest city with a population exceeding 20 million, has long struggled with deteriorating road infrastructure. The numbers paint a grim picture: according to Dawn News, a total of 803 people lost their lives in traffic accidents in Karachi in 2025. Separately, medical experts have estimated that around 500 people — mostly motorcyclists — suffer injuries in road traffic accidents in the city every single day and are taken to hospital emergency units for treatment.

The underlying problem is structural. A Dawn investigation found that all 14 roads rehabilitated during the 2023-2024 financial year had either caved in or developed potholes within a year of their rehabilitation. This cycle of poor-quality repair and rapid deterioration means Karachi's streets are in a near-permanent state of disrepair, creating hazards that affect every commuter from motorcyclists and rickshaw drivers to pedestrians and schoolchildren.

The Open Manhole Crisis

Perhaps no hazard captures Karachi's civic failure more starkly than its open manholes. According to data from the Edhi Foundation reported by Pakistan Today, 27 people died after falling into open manholes or drains in Karachi during 2025. Eight of the victims were children.

The tragedy drew national attention after eight-year-old Dilbar Ali lost his life on December 30, 2025, after falling into a coverless manhole in Mehran Town. Earlier, a three-year-old child fell into an open manhole near the NIPA flyover, sparking widespread outrage. As ProPakistani reported, open manholes have turned Karachi's streets into death traps. For context, in 2023, some 68 people were reportedly lost to manholes in the city, so while the toll has decreased, the crisis remains far from resolved.

A survey by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) identified 510 open manholes and 442 damaged manholes across the city. The KWSC Manhole Campaign, launched on January 8, 2025, received 4,090 complaints through its reporting system. Of the 2,470 open-manhole complaints, 1,914 were resolved — a resolution rate of about 77 percent — but hundreds remain pending at any given time.

The Dhakkan App and Why It Is Not Enough

The Sindh government launched the Dhakkan app to let citizens report missing or broken manhole covers. The app sends complaints with photo attachments and GPS coordinates directly to KWSC's complaint cell, which has committed to a 12-24 hour response time. While Dhakkan is a step in the right direction, it addresses only one type of hazard. MarkSafe covers all hazard types — potholes, exposed electric wires, broken roads, flooding zones, unsafe construction, and open manholes — giving citizens a single platform to map every danger on their streets.

Most Common Road Hazards in Karachi

• Potholes and broken road surfaces — Present on virtually every road in the city, they cause daily tire blowouts, suspension damage, and motorcycle accidents. Key affected areas include Shah Faisal Colony, Korangi's link road to Landhi, and Clifton Block-2.
• Open manholes and drains — With 510 documented open manholes, these are silent killers, especially for children and pedestrians walking at night.
• Exposed electric wires — Particularly deadly during and after rains when standing water becomes electrified.
• Overflowing sewers — Korangi, Orangi Town, and Lyari face chronic sewer overflows that erode road surfaces and create sinkholes.
• Missing road markings and signage — As Dawn reported, the absence of lane markings, missing directional signs, inadequate street lighting, and deteriorating pedestrian bridges disproportionately affect vulnerable road users.

The Monsoon Factor: When Roads Become Rivers

Karachi's monsoon season transforms road hazards from dangerous to deadly. In 2025, the city received up to 163mm of rain in a single day — the highest since 1979 — triggering urban flooding that brought the city to a complete standstill, according to Al Jazeera. Roads turned into rivers, and much of the traffic was stranded overnight.

As The Express Tribune reported, roads crumbled after the rains, with major thoroughfares caving in and neighborhood streets becoming nearly impassable. The NDMA reported that the 2025 monsoon season damaged over 661 kilometres of roads and destroyed 234 bridges across Pakistan. Areas like Pathrowala Road, Asif Road, and much of Korangi become particularly treacherous during this period as potholes deepen, manholes overflow, and drainage systems collapse entirely.

Government Response: Road Rehabilitation Plans

The scale of Karachi's road crisis has prompted significant government spending. According to ProPakistani, the KMC has launched a comprehensive rehabilitation plan covering 183 roads, and is upgrading 26 internal roads under a Rs. 5.54 billion project. Additionally, the Sindh Government has finalized a Rs. 25 billion budget — backed by the World Bank's CLICK project — to repair 559 roads across the city.

The KMC also unveiled a Rs 2.4 billion Union Council-Based Development Scheme focusing on internal streets, sewerage systems, and road improvements, with completion targeted for June 2026. However, given the track record of roads deteriorating within months of repair, citizens must remain vigilant and continue reporting newly developing hazards.

What Citizens Can Do: Report, Alert, Protect

Waiting for the government to fix every road in Karachi is not a safety plan. Citizens can take practical steps to protect themselves and their communities:

1. Report hazards on MarkSafe — Drop a pin on the map to mark potholes, open manholes, exposed wires, flooding zones, or any other street hazard you encounter. It takes less than 30 seconds, requires no account, and your report helps warn others.
2. Check the map before you travel — Before heading out, especially during monsoon season, check the MarkSafe hazard map for reported dangers along your route.
3. Upvote existing reports — If you see a hazard already reported on MarkSafe, upvote it. Community verification pushes the most critical hazards to the top, building a crowd-sourced priority list that authorities cannot ignore.
4. Be extra cautious during and after rain — Floodwater hides potholes, open manholes, and electrified puddles. Avoid walking through standing water wherever possible.
5. Spread the word — Share MarkSafe with your neighborhood WhatsApp groups, office colleagues, and family. The more people reporting, the safer everyone becomes.

Karachi Deserves Safer Streets

With 803 lives lost to traffic accidents in a single year, around 500 daily injuries, and 27 people killed by open manholes alone, Karachi's road hazard crisis is not just an infrastructure problem — it is a public health emergency. While government rehabilitation plans offer hope, history shows that roads crumble faster than they are built. That is precisely why community-driven reporting matters.

Every hazard you report on MarkSafe is a potential accident prevented. Whether it is a pothole on Rashid Minhas Road, an uncovered manhole in Korangi, or a flooded underpass in Saddar — your 30-second report could save someone's life.