KARACHI: As the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) eased out procedure for approval and issuance of construction permits for residential houses and non-obnoxious warehouses, the illegal construction of multi-story buildings with alleged involvement of authority’s officials is on the rise in many parts of the city against the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
According to a survey conducted by the scribe, there are dozens of illegal construction projects going on in Paposh Nagar area, North Nazimabad, which is situated on the Green Line route.
According to the sources, usually the owners of the property legally get the permission to construct ground floor, and the other floors are built by influencing the Director SBCA and other staff dealing with their respective regions. It is said that the authorities have started approving the construction of buildings having more than six floors against the orders of the Supreme Court on January 14.
The construction of these illegal multi-story buildings is also posing serious threats to the dwellers of smaller houses in the surrounding neighborhoods. The illegal construction for commercial use is going on plot numbers 5C 8/11, 5C 7/13, 5C 6/12, 5D 10/10 around Lal Masjid in Paposh Nagar, North Nazimabad.
According to sources, the SBCA officials are allegedly supervising the illegal construction on these projects and removing all hurdles like paying to police parties, district administration etc.
When contacted, SBCA Director North Nazimabad Zafar Ahsan confirmed that these were illegal construction, however, added that he would be able to take action only when media highlight the issue.
On the other hand, the Sindh government aimed at facilitating the acquiring of construction permits for citizens has eased out the procedure for the approval and issuance of permits for residential houses. This has been done on the directive of Sindh chief minister.
As part of this ground-breaking reform, the requirement of interdepartmental No Objection Certificates (NOCs) NOCs from Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KW&SB), Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Excise & Taxation Department Government of Sindh have been waived off.
The procedures and the timeline for approvals of construction permits for residential houses and non-obnoxious warehouses have been revisited. These reforms are applicable to the city of Karachi.
“Nothing can stop an organization, with the right mental attitude and team, from achieving its goal,” said SBCA Director General and Chief Executive Agha Maqsood regarding this progressive and public-friendly initiative.
On the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Building & Town Planning Regulations, notifications regarding these amendments in procedures and timeline have been published, according to which every case of construction permit falling within Category-I shall be approved and issued in a single-stage procedure within a period of 30 days, as opposed to 60 days earlier.
Before these reforms were introduced, the total process of obtaining a construction permit and consequently a completion certificate upon completion of construction took 260 days and the applicant had to go through 15 procedural steps.
After the reforms, the number of days has been reduced to 92, and the procedural steps have been reduced to seven.
SBCA is also in the process of introducing a risk-based evaluation system for issuance of construction permits, with the pilot project currently underway for Category-I buildings.
