Will builders get free-for-all in Industrial Area?

Board likely to notify revised building bylaws for industrial plots on Monday

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) board is likely to notify revised Building bylaws and subdivision of plots in the Islamabad Manufacturing Industry Area Zoning Regulation 1963 in its next meeting, which is scheduled for Monday.

The board had already approved a revision in the bylaws in a 2015 board meeting. The authority, however, could not issue notification regarding aforementioned decision of even after lapse of more than one year. It was a major policy shift and board had directed that a comprehensive policy with all merits and demerits of the proposal would be formulated in coordination and consultation with the ICT administration for onward submission to the cabinet division for further approval.

Former CDA Planning and Development Member Waseem Ahmed Khan got approval for the amendments in 2015.

In the wake of the board’s approval, a large number of industrialist submitted new building drawings with the CDA. The new drawings are still pending approval from the CDA Building Control Section (BCS).

“We received almost 30 cases of building drawings for approval after amendments in the building bylaws,” a BCS official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

The authority also received Rs150 million in the form of drafts and pay orders along with the building drawings in the form of amendment fees for permission to change the drawings.

“After notification of these amendments, industrialists could change their trade and industrial plots into commercial ones,” a CDA official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

It may be noted that the CDA had approved Islamabad Manufacturing Industry Area Zoning Regulation 1963, and according to Clause 7 of Chapter-III of this policy, “No [standard] plot shall, except with the previous written permission of the Authority, be divided to portion, reduced in the size of any of its dimensions or transferred in portions, or amalgamated with an adjoining modular plot or plots for the construction of a building or any other purpose.”

In the past, the CDA Board, in a meeting held on February 15, 2001, had approved a subdivision policy for industrial plots with certain terms and conditions.

Moreover, the CDA board, in a meeting held in April 2001, allowed amalgamation of industrial plots on the demand of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ICCI). Again, after continuous lobbying by the ICCI, the board approved the revision of bylaws for industrial plots, but retained the limit on storeys, floor area ratio (FAR), and ground coverage.

The subdivision of larger plots, which were not a combination of modular plots, was placed before CDA board in January 2015, and the board gave consent to formulate a policy for subdivision. Succumbing to pressure from powerful industrialists, former planning member Khan made recommendation for amendments in the Islamabad Manufacturing Industry Area Zoning Regulation 1963.

Now modular plots could be divided to portions, and plots allotted for one unit comprising more than one modular plot may be segregated into independent plots in such a way that it becomes new modular plots. Further subdivision of each independent modular plot, however, shall not be allowed. According to the new bylaws, industrialists may use v70 per cent of plot area with a maximum height of buildings of 75 feet, while earlier bylaws only permitted the use of 60 per cent area of the plot for construction and a maximum height of 60 feet.

“It was a longstanding demand of industrialists, and after notification of the amendments to the bylaws, they will be able to change trades included in the CDA permissible trade list,” CDA Planning Member Asad Mehboob Kiyani told The Express Tribune.

It is expected that after amendments, more industries would be established, and the expansion of existing industries would generate more economic activity, bring more investment and providing more employment opportunities in the federal capital.

“Implementation of new bylaws would lead to denser industrial concentration and more pollution in the area. It will also exert extra pressure on existing services, which would needed redesigning and relaying of the existing services in line with the revised intensity of land use. It would also increase road traffic on the existing networks, while parking requirements would also increase.

Moreover, commercial activity may also invade the manufacturing area, which would be a departure from the Islamabad master plan,” the CDA official maintained.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2017.