KARACHI: Hotel ignores KBCA over ‘unauthorised’ construction
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, Nov 7: A five-star hotel has become mired in controversy over the construction of a high-rise tower on its premises, which the city building control authority has termed an illegal structure that must be demolished or removed in any other way.
According to Dawn’s sources, the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) has at least twice directed the Pearl Continental Hotel to halt the illegal construction under threat of forcible demolition, yet the unauthorised work continues.
One of the major top-end hotel chains in the country, the hotel reportedly intends to construct a 40-storey tower next to its existing building, on a ground that once sported a swimming pool. The hotel concerned submitted a proposal in this regard to the KBCA, which was approved with certain conditions. Sources told Dawn that the approval was now no longer valid since the conditions imposed by the KBCA were not fulfilled within the prescribed period of 60 days, thus rendering the construction illegal.
Information received by this newspaper details the conditions set by the KBCA, including the demand that the owner or a licensed architect submit the plan consisting of a 3-level basement, plus ground floor, plus forty floors forwarded by the land owner within 60 days. Secondly, the approved completion plan of the existing building, verifying the existing area as shown in the proposed hotel tower plan, was to be submitted within 60 days.
Directives ignored
The total area of the plot (11 CL 11, Civil Lines Quarters) on which the hotel stands and the tower is to be constructed is 23,294 square yards or 209,286 square feet. The allowable plot to covered area ratio is 1:3, which means that a total of over 627,858 square feet can be constructed. The conditional Town Planning NOC was granted in Oct 2006 and the architectural concept plan was approved in Nov 2006.
However, the hotel is yet to submit to the KBCA the detailed architectural plans and the other data required for review, after which the building control authority would decide whether or not to grant permission for the construction.
Rather than submitting the plans with the KBCA and waiting until these were approved and the relevant permissions / NOC granted, the hotel has already started construction work.
In the first letter issued to M/s Pearl Continental Hotels (Pvt) Ltd, the KBCA mentioned at least three violations: “construction without approved plan”, “construction without the supervision of professionals” and that an “RCC slab has been cast over the swimming pool without approval of the KBCA”.
The letter directed the hotel group to “stop further potentially dangerous and unauthorised construction work on the said plot forthwith; vacate the said unauthorised structure within three days from the receipt hereof, failing which you shall be summarily evicted from there; remove the unauthorised structure within three days from the receipt hereof, failing which the same shall be removed/sealed by the authority at your expense under Section 7(a) of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979-82; and explain immediately why you should not be prosecuted for violation of the SBCO 79-82 and the regulations framed there under.”
Sources informed Dawn that when Pearl Continental Hotel did not respond to the KBCA directive, the authority sent another directive citing the same illegal work but bringing the time limit for the removal of the illegal construction down to 24 hours from the three days stipulated earlier.
Reportedly, the second directive also failed to elicit a response from the hotel owners/administration.
‘Nobody above the law’
KBCA building controller Agha Maqsood Abbas told Dawn that the hotel had illegally started the construction since it had not yet submitted the required detailed plans. “Two notices have been served to halt and remove the unauthorised construction, otherwise it would be demolished by the authority’s squad, but the hotel does not respond,” he stated. Mr Abbas added that the extreme step of demolition had not yet been taken since the violator was a prestigious hotel and such a move may give foreign guests the wrong impression about Pakistan. He conceded that the owner of the hotel was an influential person with the right contacts but maintained that nobody was above the law and he would soon carry out the demolition if the illegal construction was not stopped.
Meanwhile, the general manager of Pearl Continental Hotel, Junaid Ashraf, said that “we are a law-abiding organisation and have obtained all the relevant permissions. We are not violating any law.” Claiming that the KBCA had not issued any notices regarding the halt of construction, Mr Ashraf said that “we have, in fact, closed down the swimming pool but it is our pool and we can do whatever we want with it. We don’t need anybody’s permission to close the swimming pool. If the KBCA says it has issued any notices to us, then it is not telling the truth. The KBCA would not allow anybody to construct even an illegal khokha [kiosk]; how can we construct a 40-floor high-rise building without permission?” asked Mr Ashraf, adding that “whenever we start a construction, we get whatever permissions were required.”
