KARACHI: With illegal constructions and making of unauthorised multiple floors over a small piece of land continued unabated across the city, the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has come up with another idea to enforce its laws.

The SBCA has decided to make it mandatory for builders to make all relevant details of their construction activities and projects public by placing a ‘board’ inscribed with QR codes outside the respective structure displaying all legal information.

Although the fresh move was announced by the SBCA on Tuesday amid much media fanfare, sources privy to the affairs of the authority said that the same orders from the authority had been issued in 2019 which were never implemented.

“The SBCA has taken a decisive action to tackle the proliferation of illegal constructions within the city by issuing a notification to affix QR codes on all under-construction residential and commercial buildings, complete with detailed information,” said a SBCA statement citing the notification issued by its director general Abdul Rasheed Solangi.

“The notification mandates the placement of plot numbers, date of approval, nature of building, number of floors approved, SBCA licences, and contact details of building owners and contractors at the site of under-construction buildings. The DG SBCA has emphasised that the provision of details on such buildings will facilitate easy access to information for the public regarding the number of floors in a building and whether the construction is approved or not.”

The SBCA chief, it said, had also warned that the action would be taken against those buildings which would not comply with these requirements.

The fresh move, the SBCA claimed, would help people to countercheck the legality of any under-construction project before making any final decision.

“The DG SBCA has highlighted that by scanning QR codes on boards placed on all approved under-construction residential and commercial buildings in Karachi, people can easily determine the legal status of a building using their smartphones. This initiative will not only empower citizens but also assist authorities in identifying illegal constructions,” added the statement.

Although the SBCA chief sounded confident that this move would bear fruit for the general public, many believe that the fresh orders were a kind of replica of a 2019 move when the then chief of the authority, Zafar Ahsan, had issued similar orders making them mandatory for every builder.

“Mr Ahsan’s action was a move towards reforming the operational side of the authority but he hadn’t only faced resistance from within the authority but the orders were hardly followed by builders,” said an official sharing history of such moves.

Both the officials and builders were not sure as to how such moves would help stop illegal structures when such activities, many believe, are always carried out with the support of the officials concerned.

The fresh orders from the SBCA chief came a couple of days after he approached all deputy commissioners of the city asking them to launch a crackdown on illegal constructions in their respective areas.

“The DC concerned will ensure proper implementation of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979, and recommend further action against such illegal buildings and delinquent officers involved in unauthorised constructions under the SBCA Rules accordingly,” said the DG SBCA letter.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2024