High-rises near airports

Allowing construction of tall buildings in the vicinity of airports would not be a good decision. Media reports, however, suggest that the government is about to abolish the condition of acquiring a no-objection certificate for the construction of high-rise and multistory buildings within 15.24km radius of an airport to accelerate construction activities in the country. At present NOC has to be obtained from the Civil Aviation Authority and the Pakistan Air Force for construction of multistory buildings near airports. This condition is applicable in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan. The Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority has moved a summary with the federal cabinet seeking removal of the NOC condition. It maintains that the progress made in aircraft and flying technologies has rendered the old rules obsolete.

However, current rules governing construction of multistory buildings in advanced countries like the United States and Britain prohibit such constructions in the vicinity of airports. Our own experience in the PIA plane crash of May this year establishes that the presence of tall buildings near airports is inadvisable. In this air crash, 97 passengers, including the aircraft’s crew members, died. Only two passengers survived. After the pilot lost control of the aircraft, it dashed against residential buildings and in the process eight people were injured on the ground. One of the injured, a girl house help, later died in hospital.

Construction of high-rise in the vicinity of airports is discouraged because they obstruct flights and radar operations as well as pose dangers to those living in buildings close to airports. This is why even in most developed countries multistory buildings are not allowed within 20kms radius of airports. In Pakistan, however, things are moving in the opposite direction. Multistory, single-story residential buildings, restaurants and wedding halls abound very close to airports. At least this is so in Karachi. Birds flock near restaurants and marriage halls and they interfere with flights. Despite innumerable warnings by the relevant authorities, such restaurants and marriage halls remain in place. The presence of birds close to the airport continues to pose hazards to flights.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2020.

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