Karachi: ‘27 illegal buildings on Sharea Faisal alone’

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Shahid Husain
There are as many as 27 illegal buildings on Sharea Faisal, the main artery connecting Quaid-e-Azam International Airport to Saddar, said Roland D’Souza, an eminent engineer and civic rights activist.

While talking to The News, D’Souza explained that what has become known as the builders’ mafia is allegedly in league with officials of the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA), and has access to the top echelons of power. Notices issued by courts have failed to deter the construction of illegal buildings. D’Souza outlined the legal process builders must go through before a building can be constructed. “Builders have to acquire two No Objection Certificates (NOCs),” he said. “One is for undertaking the construction of a building, and the other for when it is on sale, but many apartment buildings in PECHS, Garden East and other areas of the sprawling city, are sold to buyers without an NOC for sale.”

If the builder has transgressed bylaws or has encroached unauthorised land, the only way it is brought to the notice of high ups is when an informed citizen or organisation challenges it. The ultimate sufferer is the buyer. In the past, if a case had caught the attention of the mass media, some KBCA officials were suspended, but eventually restored. “In spite of numerous cases pending in courts against builders, no builder or government official has ever been punished,” said D’ Souza.

Amberali Bhai, an activist of civic rights organisation SHEHRI, concurred. “More than 40 per cent of lawsuits filed in the Sindh High Court (SHC) everyday are against the builders’ mafia,” she said. “These builders are never punished because they act in connivance with the KBCA officials.” On September 7, 2004, a division bench of the SHC directed the provincial ombudsman to “look into the question of extensive maladministration prevailing in the KBCA.” The two judges also stated: “We would also share the views of the learned single judge with respect to the performance of the offices of the KBCA, and must express our anguish over the fact that no serious action appears to be forthcoming.”

This was not the only time the KBCA had been brought to the court’s notice. A related case (Suit 1188/2003 et al) involved a grossly over built Trade Tower, an illegal commercial building on a residential plot. On August 19, 2004, a single bench found: “The authority is equally responsible for all this menace, their tacit connivance and corruption with builders cannot be altogether ruled out. It is high time stern action should be taken against all those responsible to check and verify different stage of construction.” However, the courts have failed to move the relevant government authorities to take action as top KBCA officials continue to help regularise unauthorised structures. “As Governor Sindh, Mohammedmian Soomro promised to refer cases of illegal buildings to the National Accountability Bureau, but in 2002, he brought out a regularisation ordinance instead,” lamented D’ Souza.

D’ Souza said all the development that had taken place in Karachi can be divided in three phases: first, there was Old Karachi, which came into being prior to the creation of Pakistan in August 1947 when British colonialists adhered to rules and regulations. Thereafter, the Karachi Development Authority was established in 1957 to cater to the needs of hundreds of thousands of immigrants and the growing needs of the then capital city. Up until the mid 1970s, the city was well-planned, but according to D’Souza, chaos followed. “Schools, parks, libraries, playgrounds, hospitals and clinics, are a part of town planning, but we now build schools and hospitals in apartment buildings owing to lopsided and myopic planning, and an indifferent civic authority,” said D’ Souza. “The fault lies with good people who do not say anything.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=137580