KARACHI: Request for highrises around Mazar rejected
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 25: The Quaid-i-Azam Mazar Management Board (QMMB) has rejected the Karachi Building Control Authority’s request saying no highrise buildings should be allowed in the restricted zone around the Mazar.
The board took the unanimous decision after discussing at length a proposal received from the KBCA chief, Brig A. S. Nasir, regarding the reduction of restricted limits from six furlongs to four furlongs.
The board denounced the contents of the letter and rejected its recommendations, expressing concern over noncompliance of the existing laws promulgated by the Sindh government.
The board decided that no amnesty should be granted to any building located in the restricted area of the Mazar as per the existing laws.
The law prohibits the construction of buildings higher than the podium level — 91 feet above mean sea level (AMSL) — of the Mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam within a radius of six furlongs (three fourths 3/4 of a mile), equivalent to 1.2 kilometres of the Mazar.
KBCA chief Brig (retd) A. S. Nasir had written a letter on July 31, 2003 to the federal environment secretary, who is also the honorary secretary to the QMMB, pointing out that even the office block of the Quaid’s Mazar was higher than the podium. He had called for examining the issue sympathetically and dispassionately, and had requested that the restricted area of 3/4 mile might be reduced to 1/2 mile radius, to avoid inconvenience to Karachiites.
The KBCA chief in his letter had said: “Here is a point of departure in identifying what is more sanctifiable to Muslims than Haram Sharif, where all the buildings around the House of Lord are much higher. Therefore the standard of sanctity attached to the Mausoleum will have to be reoriented to suit our existing restrictive law.”
He has also mentioned a particular building “Mid Town Apartments”, construction of which has remained suspended for over a decade now due to litigation, and said that “the said building at the moment is partially hollow frame. If restriction of 3/4 mile is reduced to the original 1/2 mile, Mid Town will add beauty to the existing beautiful buildings on M. A. Jinnah Road.”
The sources said the KBCA, after writing the letter to the QMMB and before any decision could be taken on it by the board, in the meantime restored the NOC for sale and advertisement of Sea Breeze Mid Town on Sept 4, 2003 and allowed the builder — Faiyyaz Fatima wife of Hashmat Ali — to sell and advertise shops, flats, etc up to basement, ground plus three floors only.
The resident engineer of the QMMB, Mohammad Arif on Sept 18, wrote a letter to the KBCA chief to the effect that the court had restraint the builder from further construction and from creating a third party interest in the property by way of booking, allotment of shops, flats etc. The parties were directed to maintain a status quo, which is still operative.
He said that the builder had advertised the sale of shops and flats in the newspapers with permission from the KBCA, which was in violation of the court orders. Mr Arif requested the KBCA chief to withdraw the NOC till the final decision of the case to avoid legal complications.
Copies of the letter have been sent to the federal environment minister, who is also chairman of the QMMB, the Sindh chief secretary and the city Nazim.
