KARACHI: Setback to devolution scheme in Karachi: Sindh govt retains KBCA
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 29: An arbitrary decision by the Sindh government to retain control over the building control affairs in the province has caused a major setback to the devolution plan of the present government.
Sources in the City Government said it was a conspiracy to sabotage the proposed Master Plan Department of the City Government.
Claiming that the KBCA takeover had been master-minded by the builders, with the connivance of some provincial government functionaries, they said if this attempt succeeded, it would pave the way for the builders to continue to raise unplanned structures and there would be a concrete jungle in and around the city in the years to come.
It would not only mar the very purpose of an integrated town- planning through a proposed master plan department, it would also be used as a tool to fail the newly-established local government system by depriving the City Government of a major source of revenue, they said.
“This, in fact, is an attempt to cripple the City Government financially and to compel it to always look towards the federal or provincial governments for meeting its recurring and development expenditures”, the added.
The controversy started when the housing and town-planning department of the Sindh government issued a circular which said that the Karachi Building Control Authority would continue to work directly under the provincial government.
The circular issued by the secretary of housing and town-planning, Major Qamar Zaman, on Jan 24 reads: “In a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chairman NRB in the office of Chief Secretary Sindh on 3.1.2002, it was decided that the KBCA will continue to work in the present shape under the control of provincial government and a committee will be constituted by the provincial government to look into the ways and methods of its present working as governed by SBCO, 1979, its future shape after the transition period and its charge with CAMP (City Agency for Master Planning).
“It has been noticed by the competent authority with concern that after the promulgation of the ‘Regularisation Ordinance’ illegal construction activity has increased. One reason attributed to this is that the KBCA is not fully functional to check such violations. This impression needs to be allayed. No state of vacuum should be allowed to persist. Administratively and functionally, the KBCA must perform its role and responsibilities as per existing practice. Violations of building plans, illegal constructions and corruption must be checked with an iron hand.”
Insiders in the Sindh government said the whole issue was manipulated to deprive the City Government of the revenues — Rs 10 billion according to one estimate — which were likely to be generated by the KBCA through the regularisation of over 3,000 illegal buildings in the city.
However, some experts questioned the legality of the circular which was issued 24 days after the KBCA ceased to exist as a department of the KDA.
They said that the KBCA was created as a department through a resolution of the governing body of the defunct KDA in 1979 and it ceased to exist along with its parent body on Dec 31, 2001. “But this circular is based on the presumption as if the KBCA was an independent organization and continues to enjoy an independent existence,” they said.
They questioned that when the provincial government had not issued a notification to create the KBCA as an independent authority, how could it take over its control, when legally it did not exist.
These experts said the circular was also violative of the provisions of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 Section 182 of the SLGO 2001.
According to the section 182(3) of SLGO 2001, the control of development authorities, water and sanitation agencies and solid waste management bodies shall vest in the City District Government. Under sub-section (4), all these departments/authorities shall cease to function on Dec 31, 2001.
When contacted, the provincial minister for local government, Dewan Mohammed Yusuf Farooqui, acknowledged that the KBCA was the subsidiary of the KDA and not an independent authority.
Defending the circular, he, however, said the devolution process of the KDA had been divided into two phases. In the first phase, the development affairs of the KDA had been devolved to the city government. The regularization of buildings, laws relating to building control and other matters were included in the second phase of the devolution of the KDA, he added.
He made it clear that the revenue to be collected by the regularization of buildings would be spent on the development of the city government’s infra-structure and would not be used by the provincial government.
Talking to Dawn, the City Nazim Naimatullah Khan also agreed that the KBCA was a department of the defunct KDA and it should have been devolved to the City Government along with the KDA. He, however, maintained that the KBCA had, for the time being, been taken over by the provincial government for “certain technical reasons”. The provincial government was considering the ways of its devolution and by the end of transitory period on June 30, the KBCA would be reverted to the city government, he added.
The City Nazim also said the Sindh governor, Mohammedmian Soomro, had given him a firm assurance that the revenue to be generated by the regularization of over 3,000 illegal structures of Karachi would go to the coffers of the city government and not to the provincial government.
The sources said a circular pertaining to the takeover of the KBCA by the provincial government was against the very spirit of the devolution plan as envisaged by President Pervez Musharraf and his government, and it would be an attempt to deprive the city government of its legitimate share in revenue.
