Building by-laws: LDA requested to review commercialisation fee

[Salman]

Building by-laws: LDA requested to review commercialisation fee

LAHORE:
Staff of the Commercialisation and Recovery Directorates of the Town Planning Wing of the Lahore Development Authority began recovery from residential buildings being illegally used for commercial purposes in various locations in the city last week.
Earlier, a total of 30 residential buildings had been sealed by the LDA staff for non-payment of annual commercialisation fee despite commercial uses of these premises
Land owners have expressed concern that they forced to pay commercialisation fee for the entire plot or property and not just for the area used for commercial activity, The Express Tribune has learnt.
They have requested the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to charge commercialisation fee for only the area that is used for commercial purposes. The authority says rules do not allow this.
On April 1, the LDA had decided to allow land owners annual commercialisation of their properties for a period of 10 years. They are required to produce a no-objection certificate (NOC) from neighbours.
The commercialisation fee is charged annually @ 1.25 per cent of the commercial value of the property; the amount is payable either in lump sum or in two equal instalments.
Several people who have been using the residential land for commercial purposes have requested the LDA to give them amnesty, declare their land a commercial property and charge the commercialisation fee for the area dedicated to commercial activities only. Muhammad Atif runs his property business at a one-marla shop built on a kanal plot along Wahdat Road.
“I have to pay commercialisation fee for the entire [one-kanal] plot. Why should I?” he toldThe Express Tribune.
Waheed Ahmad runs a shop in a five-marla house in Iqbal Town. He said he could not pay the commercialisation fee for the entire building. “I requested the LDA to charge the fee for only the area occupied by the shop but they refused to do that.”
LDA Town Planning Director Nadeem Akhtar Zaidi said the authority had to follow the rules. He said the Building and Zoning Regulations 2008 did not allow them to declare a specific portion of a plot or building commercial and treat the rest as residential.
He said only professionals such as doctors, engineers, architects and lawyers were allowed to use 25 per cent of their residential property for commercial use.
He said although the LDA had received several applications, it could not declare a specific portion of a residential property commercial. “If we allow any such conversion then there will be no need for land owners to get an NOC from their neighbours,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2014.