KHYBER: The tehsil municipal administration has directed the owners of shops and markets in the Landi Kotal Bazaar to take prior approval from it for any new construction or repair/maintenance of old buildings.

A circular issued from the office of tehsil municipal officer on Friday, copies of which were also pasted at prominent places in the bazaar, asked the shopkeepers and commercial building owners to approach the TMA authorities with immediate effect for approval of a drawing for new construction or permission for repair or maintenance of old structures. The move is aimed at keeping a proper record of all buildings and shops in the bazaar.

Acknowledging the circulation of the new building rules, TMO Shahbaz Khan warned of legal action under the Local Government Act if anyone was found guilty of not approaching the TMA for seeking approval of the building design or repair.

Reacting to the imposition of building rules in the local market for the first time after the merger of former tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local traders’ association president Jafar Shinwari said the new policy would enable them to become legal owners of their commercial properties as a majority of traders, shopkeepers and even plaza owners were without any legal ownership documents in the absence of a proper revenue record.

He said the new rules were beneficial for most of the owners and traders as they would get legal protection of ownership of their commercial property under the LG Act.

He said in the past approval for construction of new commercial buildings or repair was taken from the erstwhile political administration on the basis of personal contacts with the officials or through influential persons as no proper record of commercial buildings existed previously.

“We welcome the decision and will cooperate with TMA to execute its new plan,” he said and added it would also help the traders union to amicably resolve property disputes in future. Published in Dawn, january 7th, 2023