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KARACHI, Oct 12: While bylaws concerning hoardings have been revised in the wake of the summer storm during which giant billboards collapsed across the city, the city government has parted ways with the uniform bylaws framed by a committee headed by the Karachi station commander and is following its own, revised rules, Dawn has learnt.
After the June windstorm during which over a hundred billboards fell in areas controlled by different authorities, a number of hoardings were removed from all over the city. The lucrative business is now gathering momentum again with advertisers installing hoardings on the basis of uniform bylaws framed by a committee headed by Brigadier Bashir Gondal of the Station Headquarters with members representing each land controlling body and the city government.
However, the city government is following its own bylaws, passed by the City Council. Sources in the city government told Dawn that the body is not bound to follow the bylaws prepared by Brig Gondal’s committee since the city government’s bylaws are more people-friendly and were prepared in view of public safety concerns.
Which bylaws are more people-friendly?
According to Brig Gondal, the installation of billboards on rooftops is not permitted under the new bylaws but the city government was allowing advertisers to erect signboards on rooftops.
“The city government said merely that hoardings on rooftop should be discouraged but we say that none should be allowed,” he told Dawn. “Our bylaws are more people-friendly,” he maintained. “We have reduced the maximum hoarding size to 60x20 feet from the previously allowed 30x90 feet. Earlier, there were no controls on the height of billboards but under the new bylaws, the maximum height allowed is 35 to 40 feet.”
Brig Gondal said that there would be no double-storey sites for billboards and other than a few exceptions, a minimum distance of 50 metres would have to be maintained between two hoardings. No signboard would overhang a footpath or road and engineers would be required to certify the hoardings’ ability to withstand wind pressures of 80 nautical miles. He added that all the members of the committee, including representatives of the city government, had agreed upon the document and had signed the new bylaws.
‘The committee was misused’
Conversely, city government sources claimed that the committee, formed under the directive of Corps 5, was assigned the task of resolving disputes of land and jurisdiction but instead prepared new bylaws concerning the installation of hoardings. “We have our own bylaws so why should we follow new rules?” asked a source. “They misused the committee and we have communicated our reservations.”
The city government had wanted a uniform policy regarding the installation of billboards in each area of the city, and had proposed that the city government collect the advertisement tax while the land controlling authorities concerned should receive the land tax. However, no progress was made in this regard.
Brig Gondal admitted that the proposal regarding uniform control was still being discussed but many stakeholders have expressed reservations. Asked about the plan to make all of Sharea Faisal hoarding-free, he said that it had been shelved because of resistance by several committee members. He added that an implementation board was being constituted to ensure the proper implementation of the new bylaws and maintained that the Cantonment Board and all other land controlling authorities are following the new bylaws.
The district officer local taxes, Rehan Khan, told Dawn that he believed that the city government was implementing its bylaws in an improved form. “I have formed a six-member committee comprised of representatives of advertising associations and two officials of the department which will visit and check the stability of billboards installed in the city government’s jurisdiction,” he stated. He further said that an advertiser must obtain a stability certificate from engineers registered with the Pakistan Engineering Council and the Karachi Building Control Authority both before and after the installation of a billboard. “The city government issues permission to only those hoardings which can withstand wind pressure of 120 nautical miles,” said Mr Khan.
The district office claimed that before the June windstorm, the city government had revised its bylaws under which the maximum hoarding size allowed was 60x20 feet. “Very few of our billboards fell during the storm, as compared to those that collapsed in the jurisdiction of the Cantonment Board, Pakistan Railways and other authorities,” he maintained.
