SBCA inspectors told to certify every month there are no illegal constructions in their jurisdiction

Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has asked the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to show no compromise on the issue of illegal constructions in Karachi.

He stated that illegal buildings created an incomparable havoc in any city. The local government minister made his first visit on Thursday to the offices of the SBCA and Karachi Development Authority after assuming charge of his ministerial position where he met officials of the two civic agencies.

He directed the SBCA officials to ensure indiscriminate action against those involved in illegal constructions in the city. He added that the SBCA would be held responsible if any unauthorised construction took place in any locality in Karachi.

Ghani ordered that all building inspectors, senior building inspectors and additional building inspectors would certify every month that there was no illegal construction in progress in their respective jurisdictions. He maintained that the SBCA’s rules of business should clearly define the procedure for fixing responsibility for illegal constructions in the city.

The local government minister asked the SBCA officials to be punctual, dutiful, honest and polite in discharging their duties to nullify the negative public image of their civic agency. He directed the SBCA officials to launch a public awareness campaign to inform people about unauthorised constructions in the city to prevent them from purchasing such properties for their accommodation.

He remarked that relevant laws and rules should be amended wherever necessary to ensure stern lawful action against builders involved in unauthorised construction. SBCA Director General Abdul Rasheed Solangi informed the local government minister that construction-related applications submitted by the people, including requests for approving the building plans, were processed by the civic agency with an approval rate of 88 per cent.

He said the SBCA had launched a one-window operation for approving building plans for residential buildings on 60- and 400-square-yard plots in Karachi within 15 days. He briefed the provincial minister that the complaint cell of the SBCA had been fully functional to help out the people having construction-related issues.

Later, chairing a meeting at the KDA head office, Ghani said the KDA should readily hand over six development schemes it had completed several years ago to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. He said the KDA should not retain these development schemes just to maximise its earnings.

He said the Traffic Engineering Bureau, a subsidiary of the KDA, should give proposals for installing new traffic signals and adopting other measures for improving the vehicular traffic system in the city.

He said the civil agency constructing the roads in Karachi should also receive the road-cutting charges. The local government minister said the uplift schemes envisaged under the Annual Development Programme of the Sindh government should be completed in the shortest possible time to serve the public.