Collapsing buildings

With the collapse of a six-story building in Ranchore Line, Karachi, the lax attitude of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has once again come to light. Luckily there was no casualty this time around, but a similar incident in February 2019 had resulted in three deaths when a three-storey building in the Jaffar Tayyar Society in Malir had crumbled. According to reports, the Ranchore Line building that collapsed on Dec 30 was initially planned in 1987 as a single-storey house, but then in 2005 the construction of a six-storey building started and for the past 12 years nearly two dozen families had been living in the building. The building did not have an approved plan and the builders did not face any hurdles in constructing a building which was ill-planned and constructed with poor material. The cracks in the building had appeared much earlier and some residents had reported the matter to the SBCA.

Similar building crashes have been occurring in other parts of Pakistan too but perhaps due to rampant corruption officials take a lenient view of the quality of construction. In Karachi, even if you want to build a room anywhere, there are multiple officials who visit you to extract money. This is corruption for you at your doorstep. If you plan to build a proper house or a multi-storey building the architectural plan needs to be approved by the SCBA, but that rarely happens as there is a never-ending ban on new approvals if you go through proper channels. But if you want to build anyway, most entities look the other way if incentives are offered. That’s how millions of houses and buildings are constructed with the connivance of those who should be responsible for checking quality.

This has been going on for decades but it is about time the government took immediate steps to curtail such practices. First, the Sindh government needs to hand over the building control authority to the city government as is the practice in most other countries. Building control is a local matter and should remain in local hands; but that is not enough because even local governments are highly prone to negligence and corruption. A mechanism should be devised in which conscientious and qualified personnel are hired to check the soundness of building plans and ensure the quality of construction. Primarily it is the state’s responsibility to provide safe living to its citizens, and it is a pity that we are still far away from that provision.