Work on high rises resumes in Lahore

[CMY]

FOLLOWING a lenient attitude of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), various builders, contractors and private parties have secretly resumed construction of their multi-storey plazas in the provincial capital.

Construction of a number of multi-storey plazas was halted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP), which also ordered demolishing of various multi-storey structures like the Masood Hospital in the City.

Sources in LDA said that SCP had imposed a general ban on the construction of all buildings with three or more storeys in Lahore.

They said the SCP had also constituted a three-member commission comprising Justice Riaz Kiyani (Retd), Kamil Mumtaz (architect) and Tahir, a structural engineer, for compiling a detailed report after surveying under-construction buildings in Lahore.

The sources said the commission in its initial report claimed that a number of buildings had been constructed in violation of building codes and by-laws of the LDA.

Since the ban on any further construction, the owners and builders of these plazas stopped work on the front side, but continued construction work from inside their buildings.

Most of this activity is taking place at night and one can witness a number of new multi-storey plazas being completed on different roads.

Examples of this are evident on Main Market Township, Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, Model Town Link Road, Ferozepur Road, Multan Road, Jail Road and other roads.

In Main Market Township, some four to five new multi-storey plazas were constructed recently and the construction activity was going on.

A big multi-storey plaza was under construction at the junction of Maulana Shaukat Ali Road and Model Town Link Road.

After the orders of SCP, construction activity at the plaza was stopped, but the management continued to complete it from inside and presently the management is selling out shops to different companies while the outer structure is still giving the same old look.

Likewise, the workers at a big under construction plaza at the corner of Kalma Chowk are busy in fixing glasses at the outer side of the building.

Construction of this plaza was also stopped but the influential owners continued the activity though at a slow pace.

Workers and labourers present at this plaza said they knew that construction activity has been banned for the past many months.

However, they said that what they could do if the management asked them to carry on the work.

“We have been directed to go slow but not to stop work,” said one of the workers, on condition of anonymity.

Same is the case with a multi-storey building being constructed adjacent to the Kot Lakhpat Fruit and Vegetable Market. Construction of this building is continuing and construction work has not been halted even for a single day.

It is pertinent to mention here that the LDA recently started a massive operation against illegal constructions across the City, but the authorities totally ignored the construction of the high-rise buildings.

Sources in the agency claimed that heavy stakes of influential personalities in the high-rise buildings was the main reason due to which senior officials were overlooking the ongoing construction.

Senior LDA officials, however, claimed that the police were responsible to stop such constructions. Officials said in past the CCPO Lahore issued directives to all SHOs if the City to serve notices to the owners of under-construction high-rise buildings to stop the construction until further orders and permission.

Another senior LDA official said any building having a roof or a ceiling was considered a complete building and LDA has no powers to stop them from doing construction on the inside as well as decoration such as flooring or painting.

He, however, said the LDA Town Planning Wing has already launched a crackdown on illegal constructions across the City and has already razed various buildings and floors of different plazas.

When contacted, LDA’s spokesman refused to give any official statement over the issue and said DG LDA could only give version in this regard. No LDA official including its Director General and Town Planner Qazi Masood were available for comments.




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