LAHORE: Conversion of residential buildings into commercial structures under the name of ‘renovation’ is being allowed in different areas of the City.
Sources in LDA revealed that residential buildings were allowed to make modifications in the name of renovation but in actual building structures were completely changed into commercial plazas or shops.
A senior official of LDA seeking anonymity said that as per LDA rules and regulations conversion of residential building into a commercial structure on a non-commercial road was not allowed. He claimed all such conversions were made in connivance with the officials of Town Planning Wing who were supposed to stop and demolish any such structures. He said LDA rules allow commercial use of a residential building without any change in the basic structure under its annual commercialisation policy. He also revealed that following a court order, LDA was not issuing new NOCs for annual commercial but still new buildings were being constructed, which was an alarming thing.
The official said illegal conversion of residential buildings into commercial constructions also caused huge financial loss to the LDA as the authority was deprived of all the related fees. This ongoing practice has created several issues including extra burden on civic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, electricity and etc. Conversion of residential buildings also created problems of parking and extra generation of solid waste. Emergence of commercial structures in residential localities was also causing an environmental impact as when a house was converted into a plaza, all greenery it had was also eliminated. It is pertinent to mention here that the Town Planning Wing of the authority used to demolish workshops, small shops and other structures but no action was taken against the ongoing practice of conversion of residential buildings into commercial structures in posh localities.
During a visit of Faisal Town’s main boulevard, which came under the jurisdiction of TP Zone-III, The News came to know that a number of residential buildings were being converted into commercial structures in the name of renovation. Many houses on the same road were already converted into commercial buildings but were not open yet. Similarly, the UMT Road, which came under the jurisdiction of TP Zone-IV, was also a classic example of emergence of commercial buildings in the name of renovation. A large number of hostels were constructed on this road while many were still under construction and LDA’s Town Planning Wing was playing the role of a silent spectator. The News also pointed out several ongoing constructions to the Director TP Zone-IV Ali Nusrat and he said he had stopped the construction work. However, it was pertinent to mention here that construction of some buildings was still going on.
Several residents of both the zones interviewed by The News said that they were facing immense problems due to conversion of residential buildings into commercial structures. They appealed the chief minister Punjab and other senior officials including Director General LDA to take strict action against the officials of LDA’s Town Planning Wing who were pampering these illegal constructions. They said that if LDA wanted to commercialise this road then it should do it in a proper manner so that all the property owners could get benefit. The News took pictures of some of such buildings and sent them to Asad-us-Zaman, LDA’s Director Town Planning (zone-III), with a questionnaire but even after two days he didn’t reply. The same pictures and questionnaire were also sent to LDA’s Chief Town Planner Tahir Mayo on which he said the LDA has a clear-cut zero tolerance policy towards illegal constructions. He said in case of a complaint, LDA will hold an inquiry of the director concerned and if found guilty a departmental action will be taken against him/her. Chief Town Planner Tahir Mayo said he will send a special team for inspection of the buildings pointed out by The News and an action will be taken if any illegality in the construction was found.
Tahir Mayo said LDA has also hired Nespak as a consultant to carry out a study of all the major non-commercial roads of the city to decide their fate. He said illegal construction was a major issue and LDA will not tolerate this. He said in past actions were also taken in this regard and several illegal buildings were demolished. Later on Monday evening, the LDA issued a notification swapping Asad-us-Zaman, LDA Director Town Planning (zone-III), with Director Town Planning (Zone-IV) Ali Nusrat.