RAWALPINDI: As administrator of Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC), Commissioner Saqib Zafar has approved new building by-laws for the city which will be implemented from next month.

The new building by-laws were approved by the elected council of RMC in January 2018 but the provincial government did not notify them. However, after assuming the charge of administrator, the commissioner approved the new by-laws and sent them to the Punjab government for notification.

RMC Chief Municipal Officer Khawaja Imran Safdar told Dawn that the new by-laws would be implemented by next month after the laws were notified by the provincial government.

He said there was a need to introduce new building by-laws to streamline the buildings in 46 union councils of the city.

He said the old building by-laws were not matched with the present days and the people and civic body found difficulty to manage the things especially town planning.

Laws will be enforced by next month, RMC chief municipal officer says

He said after the new by-laws, the civic body would be able to handle the parking issue, commercialisation and stop mushroom growth of the illegal structures in the city areas.

He said the RMC had adopted the building laws made by previous Punjab government for 36 districts of the province as per requirement of the area.

He said the same rules would be implemented in all the civic bodies of the district.

Under the new by-laws, the committee will be formed to check the building violations and issued no-objection certificate to the building owner to get the electricity, gas and water connections from the utility services departments.

Before that there was no requirement to get NoC from the RMC to get the facility and in new building by-laws, it was mandatory to stop illegal construction in the area.

The building violation fee also increased and a committee of technical person will impose the fine on those buildings owners who violated the by-laws during construction.

The parking area fixed more than 25pc of the total area of the commercial plaza.

However, buildings in the narrow streets will pay parking violation fee from Rs200,000 to Rs400,000 in the city areas.

The height of the commercial buildings has been enhanced from three storeys to eight storeys.

To avoid fire emergency, two fire exits would be allocated in the commercial areas one for commoners and second for special persons.

Entry and exit points at commercial plazas will be made on modern lines where wheel chair will be necessary for the special persons.

On the other hand, sources told Dawn, the completion certificates for the commercial or residential building owners would be compulsory and fine would be imposed on those commercial buildings for minor violations.

He said the completion certificates would be verified from RMC record.

“The RMC will make it clear that the parking area will be state land and the shopkeepers and owner of the plaza will not use for construction of shops in the basement,” he said.

They said that there were many buildings in the narrow streets of Raja Bazaar and adjoining areas where the commercial buildings were being constructed without any approval.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2019