WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

WSF POLYCENTRIC EVENT

24-29 JANUARY 2006

KARACHI

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM

SOCIO-ECONOMIC &

INFRASTRUCTURAL

STRENGTH

OF

KARACHI

Infrastructure

Karachi a city of over sixteen million people has a developed civic & social infrastructure. It is connected with all major cities of Pakistan, South Asia and rest of the World by road air and sea through an elaborate network of bus, rail, airlines and ferries.

Infrastructure (Cont.)

Karachi has adequate number of hotels, hostels, camping sites and if need be vacant apartment blocks as well as restaurants and food courts. It has accessible internal transport, social & recreational facilities to cater & accommodate any reasonable number of local and visiting guests.

WSF- Venue

Karachi Expo Centre Complex spread over 500 acres in the heart of the city. It includes the centre itself and several spots stadiums etc. The Centre offers modern communication,

infrastructure facilities for hosting the Forum.

Centre routinely hosts Education, Trade and different kind of conferences during the course of any year.

CENTRE’S BIRDS-EYE VIEW

Centre’s Layout

WSF- Venue

The Centre could accommodate 6 plenary sessions simultaneously and around 60 self organized events. The surroundings of the complex houses National Stadium, National Coaching Centre, City Sports complex, seven major universities , offices of various Trade Unions and civil society organisations etc.

Services for Special Persons

Exclusive Pathways are available at Expo Centre & the same will be ensured for the Camps.

Courtesy Edhi Trust wheel chairs, crutches & walkers shall be available at Expo Centre & Camps.

Residential Facilities- Camps

Camp Sites to accommodate up to 30000 people are available at:

1. National Stadium

2. National Coaching Centre

3. Roti Plant area

many more

Residential Facilities- Hostels

1. NILAT – YMCA - YWCA

2. Urdu University

3. Sir Sayed University of Eng. and Technology

4. University of Karachi

5. NED University

6. PILER and

several hundred vacant apts.

Residential Facilities- Hotels

• 5-star Hotels: 4 (with accumulative capacity

of over 1000 rooms). Rate US$ 150-200

• 3-4star hotels: 11 (with accumulative capacity of 2300 rooms). Average rate per day US$ 30-70

• Others: Over 100 hotels (with at least capacity of over 6000 rooms) Average rate US$ 2-20.

Food and beverage

- Food Stalls at the Centre.

- Gulshan food district stretches over 5 kms of University & Rashid Minhas roads.

- Food Stalls will also be established in residential camps.

- Vegetarian & non-vegetarian food will be made available.

- Food from 23 countries & regions is currently available in Karachi.

Transport

• Public transport remains available from Airport, Bus & Railway Stations for the proposed camp sites hotels and hostels round the clock.

• Buses, Coaches, Radio & regular cabs & Rickshaws are normally available round the clock.

. Inter-city buses ploy to and from all major cities of Pakistan

• Karachi is linked with Indian, Iranian, Afghan, Middle Eastern and Central Asian cities through rail, road and boats.

Communications

The Centre has over 250 dedicated telephone lines.

Adequate Internet infrastructure is

available at the Centre.

The cellular phone companies have indicated that they could provide any reasonable temporary connections for visitors.

SECURITYA Security Plan is being developed in collaboration with Citizen Police Liaison Committee & DIG Police (Security) Karachi. We shall also coordinate with,

1. Private Security Firms 2. Fire Brigade & Bomb Disposal Squad3. Traffic Police will set up a Traffic

Plan for the area

Volunteers (Over 2500)

Member Organizations of PSF82 District Chapters of PSFCommunity voluntary organizations Labour Organisations Boy Scouts & Girls GuidesUniversity & College Students Community Workers Members of Sports Organizations

Health Cover & Medical Facilities

• Edhi Ambulance Service with Wireless base at the Centre and Camps.

• Unicef & EPI will arrange the medical & Immunization Camps.

• Pakistan Medical Association promises to provide doctors at the Centre & Camp sites round the clock.

Health Cover & Medical Facilities

• Peoples Doctors Forum agrees to provide doctors.

• Sindh Peoples Para Medical Staff Association will provide para Medic staff

• Other ambulance & health services including St. John & Hilal-e-Ahmar will be approached

23 Hospitals within 5 km radius

City’s major medical facilities

are located in the neighborhood

Aga Khan Hospital

Liaquat National Hospital

Ashfaq Memorial Hospital

Nadeem Medical etc.

PARALLEL FORUMS

Arrangements could be made for parallel forums through camps and other auditoriums for:

1. World Parliamentary Forum.2. World Fisher Folk Forum.3. World Youth Forum.4. World Health Forum.

and many more.

Cultural Activities During WSF

1. Nightly music performances.

2. Theatre festival

3. Documentary film festival

4. Paintings & Photograph exhibition

5. Handicraft exhibition

6. Puppet shows

7. Children’s theatre

8. Replica of cultural expressions

Peace Ship

Special arrangements shall be made to receive ‘Peace Ship’ laden with the participants of World Social Forum to voyage from Asian port cities to Karachi.

PEACE TRAINS

Pakistan Railways is being requested to run additional trains

to accommodate participants of WSF Polycentric event-2006. We also hope that an additional Train link with India would have established by December-2005

Visa Facility

Pakistani visa is available to all nationalities of the World except Israel.

Translation Services

• English

• Urdu

• Arabic

• Persian

• Chinese

• Japanese

• Thai

• Hindi• Gujarati• Sinhalese• Tamil• Malayalam• Bengali• Marathi• Korean

PLACES TO VISIT

• BEACHES CLIFTON, SANDSPIT

BUNAWARI BAY, GADANI

• MUSEUMS 1. JEWEL IN THE CROWN @ MAHOTA

PALACE

2. NATIONAL MUSEUM

3. Sadeqain Gallery @ Frere Garden

PLACES TO VISIT

• ART GALLERIES: There are eleven major art galleries in Karachi.

• MARKETS: There are numerous markets in Karachi to suit all tastes e.g. Zainab market in Saddar, Tariq rd, ParkTowers & Forum etc

• Historic ‘Karachi Port Trust’

and much more

Cinemas and Theatre halls

• Over 60 cinemas and theatre halls for Film festivals, theatre performances,

• About 11 large auditoriums with seating capacities ranging from 150-2500 are available for activities including concerts and other cultural activities.