RAWALPINDI: The district administration has started work on formulating uniform building bylaws in all tehsils and asked the assistant commissioners and other officials to send their suggestions in this regard.

Due to different bylaws in the tehsils, haphazard construction has been witnessed in urban areas.

Some areas of the district have high-rise buildings while in others the construction of more than two storeys is not allowed. Commercial activities in residential areas are also apparently ignored in some parts of the district.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that the tehsil administration, district council, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation and Rawalpindi Development Authority had prepared their own building bylaws that created problems for the residents and the buildings became eyesores.

Due to different bylaws, haphazard construction has been seen in urban areas of Rawalpindi, says official

He said there was a dire need to make same bylaws with minor changes keeping in view the geographic requirement of each area.

He said commercial activities had increased in urban areas but the laws were outdated.

The district Rawalpindi had to make uniform bylaws but in city and cantonment areas these were different.

The district administration should also see new building bylaws prepared by the Military Lands and Cantonments for cantonment areas.

In 2019, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) adopted new building bylaws under which parking area of more than 25 per cent of the total area of commercial plazas was fixed.

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

The height of commercial buildings were enhanced from three to eight storeys as these areas came under the jurisdiction of the RDA where there was permission for building more than three-storeys.

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

Commercial plazas’ entry will be made on modern lines and the entry and exist points for special persons’ wheelchairs will be mandatory.

However, the district council and tehsils had different laws. They did not ask the builders to allocate parking area, fire safety and earthquake-proof structures. More than three storey residential houses were allowed in the district council and tehsils but in cantonment areas there was permission for only two-storey houses.

On the other hand, another district administration official said the administration wanted to generate revenue through commercialisation fee for which new building bylaws were being formulated.

Meanwhile, the district administration sent the sample of new building bylaws to the RMC, the district council and tehsil administrations through Whatsapp messages on May 5 and asked them to send their suggestions as soon as possible.

When contacted, District Council Chief Officer Fazle Akram said that the district council had started working on the new building bylaws and would finalise it soon.

RMC officials said they had adopted new building bylaws and other departments and civic agencies would make their new building bylaws.

They said the RMC had adopted building laws made by the previous Punjab government for 36 districts with some changes as per local requirements.

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

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2023