KARACHI: New fee for site plan verification likely
By Azizullah Sharif
KARACHI, April 21: The city government’s master plan group of offices (MPGO) has decided to levy a new fee for verification of site plans, well-informed sources told Dawn.
In addition to this, the MPGO has also proposed to charge a non-refundable scrutiny fee of Rs 5,000 per case for granting approval to cases, such as amalgamation of plots, sub-division of plots, development permits and approval of layout plans of petrol pumps and CNG stations , major sub-divisions and permission for explosive storage, etc., the sources added.
With regard to the site-plan verification fee, the sources said that the MPGO has made three categories and the proposed verification fee for these categories is as follows:
a) Up to 120 square yards (Rs 500); b) from 121 square yards to 400 square yards (Rs 750); and c) 401 square yards and above (Rs1,000).
At present, the MPGO did not charge any fee under the head of verification of site plans.
The site plans are required to be submitted, along with buildings’ maps/plans to the Karachi Building Control Authority, for seeking approvals of building plans. The KBCA charges Rs3.75 per square yard for granting approval to a residential building plan and Rs5.62 per square yard for the approval of building plans of commercial plots.
However, in both the cases, building plans’ approval fee is charged for the permissible covered area only.
Earlier, verification of site plans of the KDA schemes used to be done by the defunct KDA’s directorate of planning and urban designing and of other than KDA schemes was being done by the defunct KDA’s master plan department. However, with the creation of the city district government Karachi, both the master plan and directorate of planning and urban-designing have been amalgamated and the new department is now called master plan group of offices of the city government.
The MPGO’s proposed fee concerning verification of site plans, as well as non-refundable scrutiny fee to be paid in advance at the time of submission of the cases, including amalgamation, sub-division, approval of development permits and layouts approval of petrol pumps, CNG stations and other major sub-division of plots, is, however, subject to its approval by the city council.
In a recommendation made to the city council, the CDGK’s master plan group of offices has stated that the department (MPGO) is authorised to verify the site plans, sub-divide and amalgamate plots and approve layout plans, give no-objection certificate for petrol pumps, CNG stations and explosive storage permissions among other planning approvals. All these works entail comprehensive work, such as site visit, physical survey, in addition to the office time/man-hours/working hours of the officials of the department.
In addition, financial burden is also incurred on the budget of POL, office transport, depreciation and use of office stationery of the department and while performing all these duties, currently no fee is being charged for site plan verification or scrutiny of various proposals submitted to the city government’s MPGO.
About the sub-division/amalgamation of plots and the scrutiny fee for the approval of lay-out plan which is, at present, charged after the approval of the case, the MPGO has now proposed to charge a non-refundable fee for these cases on the plea that in some cases which are not found feasible for approval, owing to some technical reasons or otherwise, all efforts performed by the department go in vain.
In view of the above mentioned, the city government’s master plan group of offices has strongly recommended to the city district council to approve its recommendations through a resolution at its session so as to generate revenue for the MPGO department and to defray the city government’s expenses.
The department has also sought the city council’s permission for charging non-refundable scrutiny fee of Rs 5000 per case for other cases of approvals, such as, amalgamation, sub-division approval of development permits and layouts approval of petrol pump and CNG stations and other major sub-divisions, submitted to the MPGO, in advance at the time of submission of such cases in the city government’s MPGO. Such an amount would, however, be subject to adjustment upon approval of the case, from the current fees.
