ections of the press recently reported that a team of Sindh Building Control Authority had been attacked in Karachi’s District Central when attempting to demolish an illegally constructed floor of a building.

This episode was not an isolated happening. Governments and court have long been trying to streamline physical planning and building control matters, sometimes with high-visibility interventions. The High Court of Sindh recently directed the local government secretary to notify a Master Plan Authority for Karachi. The court also recommended the notification of an Oversee Committee of the SBCA in accordance with the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979.

It is pertinent to mention here that affairs related to building and zoning control in Karachi have remained under judicial review for a very long time. The superior courts have passed many orders and issued directives from time to time to reform the planning, development and regulation of the built environment in Karachi.

Some of the orders have led to complete demolition of buildings constructed in violation of laws, rules and regulations.

While these interventions by the courts may have been well intentioned, the issues related to this planning and management aspect of the city are complex and convoluted. It appears that the writ of various government bodies has weakened so that they are often unable to uphold the sanctity of urban public spaces and the built environment.

Let us review the roadside encroachments first.

Encroachments along the main roads normally fall under the jurisdiction of an urban land management agency. For major city arteries, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation is the concerned body. Apparently, the KMC lacks the capacity to clear the city roads entirely and prevent repeat-encroachments.

Several anti-encroachment drives have been undertaken in the past in different areas. Few have yielded sustainable results. There are several reasons for the continuing failure. For one, it is not easy to cater to the growing need of millions of citizens for impulse shopping and vending along major transit points.

Busy urban locations like Saddar, Old Town, North Nazimabad, Landhi and Tariq Road have no provision to house such activity. Since the vendors and hawkers sell cheap merchandise, which has a sizable clientele, they find ways and means to operate and can often develop a working arrangement with state officials.

The encroachments are sometimes mistakenly seen as a disorganised, individualistic and temporary activity. Research studies have revealed that the vendors operating on these encroachments are a fairly organised lot of traders. They have formed welfare associations to safeguard their existence and collective interests. Whenever they are removed from their places of operation, they return after striking clandestine deals with the state officials who become a party to the monetary gains accrued from this activity.

The encroachments along the main roads normally fall under the jurisdiction of the urban land management agency. For major city arteries, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation is the concerned body. Apparently, the KMC lacks the capacity to entirely clear the city roads. 

Conversion of landuse, particularly from low density to high density and residential to commercial categories has seen a meteoric rise. There are many underlying reasons for this. Builder-developers and building control officials act in tandem to obtain dubious permissions and no objection certificates from the concerned departments. The conversions often lead to huge commercial gains.

Permits for the construction of additional stories, secret declarations of streets being fit for commercialisation, encroachments on public land and ‘development’ along main traffic arteries are examples of this. Since the zoning regulations are seen as outdated, such activities go ahead without the slightest restraint. The so-called land-grab mafia is always a partner in crime. Financing of building projects is a grey operations area for it.

It is alleged that undocumented capital finds its way into construction enterprises as those are seen as low risk. The enforcement mechanisms of building and town planning regulations are not up to the enormity of the stakes involved. Several building sites on Shahrah-i-Faisal, Clifton and MA Jinnah Road are examples of this. Some of the buildings have been completed and occupied; others are in various phases of construction.

Many factors affect the construction activity and the violations related to it. For one, the city does not have a valid master plan.

A large number of federal agencies and mega developers do not follow the municipal or provincial government’s prescriptions. This has resulted in the prevalence of multiple standards. The land use data, required as a base line for enforcing any kind of regulations, does not exist.

The new regulations do not provide for the contemporary diversity in building design. Assessing new building types, such as centralised shopping malls, for which no prior information exists, is a challenge.

Building and town planning regulations are a basic reference to monitor the construction activity in the city. These regulations were initially framed under the provisions of Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979. They remained in force for more than two decades. In 2002, the rules were revised. More than two decades have passed since. There is a need to revise and update these regulations afresh in accordance with the emerging realities.

Instead of resort to prescriptive byelaws, a pilot project may be launched to enact performance-based byelaws. For this purpose the principle of incentive zoning should be applied.

Encroachments by government departments, including police, must be done away with. The city needs an autonomous urban planning agency. Karachi cannot be allowed to function like a rudderless ship.

The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi