University Town residential land to be made commercial

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has allowed the conversion of residential land and buildings into commercial property and vice versa in the University Town Peshawar.

The provincial government on Thursday notified the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa University Town Peshawar (Conversion, Restrictions and Management of Building Rules and Land) Rules 2017. It was done to allow the conversion of the commercial and residential land and buildings in the posh locality.

Under these rules, a scrutiny committee headed by the Secretary Local Government, Elections and Rural Development department would scrutinise and consider cases of conversion after going through all relevant documents and details.

It may be mentioned here that after the long drawn out litigation between the residents and those running various businesses in the upscale University Town, the government amended the relevant act of law and allowed commercial activities in the locality for five years. However, in the absence of the rules of procedure, the businessmen, doctors and some international non-governmental Organisations (INGOs) continued to face difficulties in using their buildings and land for commercial activities.

Under the rules, the town concerned would classify the land or building as commercial. It would also declassify such land and buildings under the rules.The notification, however, classified the shops, showrooms, stores or godowns, warehouses, shopping centres, hotels, sites reserved for filling stations, private hospitals and clinics, beauty parlours, etc. as commercial buildings. It said that an open space or plot within the area which has specifically been allocated or marked by the Town concerned for use for commercial activities would be considered commercial land.

The rules have authorized the owners of the buildings and land to appeal to the government within 15 days if they have been aggrieved by the decision of the Town authorities about the classification of the land and buildings in the University Town

The government under these rules has also authorized the Town concerned to determine the fee for conversion which the applicants would pay in lump sum or in two installments.

In case of non-payment of the fee within the stipulated time as specified by the Town concerned, a surcharge at the rate of 10 percent of the default amount would be levied on those seeking conversion of land or buildings and permission given in any such case would also be cancelled.

The scrutiny committee will comprise commissioner of Peshawar division, nazim of city district council Peshawar, nazim of tehsil council concerned, Town Municipal Officer of the relevant tehsil and chief planning officer of the Local Government department as members. It would take decision on applications for conversion and communicate it to the relevant Town within 10 working days.

The rules also place certain restrictions on the construction and structural changes in the commercial buildings and land. These allowed any such changes after the permission of the Town concerned on the payment of 40 percent extra fee provided these changes and construction are not in violation of the bye-laws and master plan in force for the time being.

The rules bound those seeking conversion to provide no objection certificate from the owners of the adjoining land and buildings.It was further notified that no conversion would be allowed if it may create any nuisance and inconvenience for the dwellers of the area.