ISLAMABAD: Twelve private housing societies have sprung up within a radius of four to six kilometres of the under-construction New Islamabad Airport in Fatehjang.

Since there are no rules and regulations regarding the minimum distance of residential areas from airports, the housing schemes are mushrooming around the new airport, the Senate standing committee on cabinet secretariat was informed on Tuesday.

Senator Kalsoom Parveen, who chaired the meeting of the committee, raised concerns over the growth of the private housing societies in the close vicinity of the new airport.

“We need to take special care, particularly after the unfortunate incident of firing at the national flag carrier at Peshawar airport,” Senator Parveen added.

Senator Mushahidullah Khan said: “We should learn something from the gruesome attack on the Karachi airport. The attack on the national flag carrier at Peshawar airport was even more serious as the mode of the attack made almost everyone vulnerable.”

There is no law on minimum distance between airport and settlements, says commissioner

He said with a jungle of houses around airports, how can even the law enforcement agencies ensure that there would not be any such attack in future? “We are also making the same mistake for future planning,” he added.

But Commissioner Rawalpindi Zahid Saeed informed the meeting that there were no rules and regulations defining the minimum distance between an airport and a human settlement.

“There are no special rules for the grant of no-objection certificates (NOCs) to private land developers for the establishment of housing colonies in the surrounding areas of an airport,” he added.

Senator Saifullah Bangash said the government should immediately come up with stringent measures regarding the housing societies near the new airport as once people started constructing houses there, it would be next to impossible to displace them.

However, the commissioner suggested that parliamentarians can do legislation to define the limits.

“There is a law but that is related to the permissible height of buildings in the surroundings of the airports which varies from 60 feet to 350 feet,” the commissioner added. “The total land possessed by these housing societies is about 17,000 kanals, and there is a limited time period to do anything.”

He said besides the development agencies, the housing societies needed to obtain an additional NOC from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Out of the 12 housing societies, five have obtained the NOCs from the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) while seven have been issued the documents by the Tehsil Municipal Administration Fatehjang.

“But the development of one of the housing societies - Top City - has been stopped as it was located along the boundary wall of the new airport,” he added.

Senator Parveen said the committee had earlier directed the development authorities to stop issuing NOCs to the private societies near the new airport but no one followed the orders.

The CDA member planning and design, Waseem Ahmad Khan, informed the meeting that almost half of the proposed airport area falls under the municipal limits of Rawalpindi and the rest was within the district of Attock.

As the committee members discussed cancelling the housing schemes, Senator Saeeda Iqbal of the PPP said if it was the only solution the NOCs should be cancelled at once without any favouritism.

“But we need to keep in mind the plight of the citizens who have bought the plots. They must be given alternative plots in some other locations.”

Published in Dawn, July 9th , 2014