KARACHI: The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has slapped a complete ban on construction of buildings beyond ground-plus-two storeys in the city, it emerged on Thursday.

A notification issued on Tuesday by the SBCA said that in compliance with an order passed by the Supreme Court on March 16 in a constitutional petition, “complete ban has been imposed on construction of multistorey or high-rise buildings beyond ground-plus-two storeys in the Karachi region forthwith”.

The notification also cited directives sent by the provincial local government ministry on April 4 in which the SBCA had been asked to impose the ban in accordance with the order of the Supreme Court.

The notification, however, did not elaborate about the no-objection certificates (NOCs) the SBCA had already issued for scores of planned skyscrapers, which are set to be part of the city’s horizon in future.

Agha Maqsood Abbas, director general of the SBCA, told Dawn that the order did not cancel such NOCs which had already been issued. “Such orders could not have retrospective effect, thus, the NOCs, which have already been issued, could not be cancelled.”

He said the ban had been imposed in light of the SC’s order, which came after the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) had submitted before the court in a petition that it had deficient resources to supply for the increasing number of high-rise buildings, which were increasingly popping up on the city’s landscape.

“No application for a high-rise building after issuance of this notification will be entertained,” said Mr Abbas.

Mayor critical

“This notification is not sufficient to [address] our concerns about the city’s highly fragile infrastructure,” said Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar while speaking to Dawn.

“It is not enough not to allow future high-rise buildings in the city; what is more important is that the relevant authorities should cancel all those NOCs, which they have already issued to more than 100 skyscrapers, which have not yet been constructed,” said Mr Akhtar in a clear tone.

He said the city’s infrastructure was extremely vulnerable; it had a worn-out sewerage and drainage system while less than half of the water required for its population was being supplied.

“Such buildings will eat up the city’s limited resources and leave our people even poorer in getting the facilities they are heavily taxed for.”

Officials in the city’s fire brigade said they were poorly equipped. They had limited fire tenders and snorkels which could not go beyond a building’s 12th storey.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017