Shiver me timbers: 194 dangerous buildings to be demolished in city

1,000 buildings could be renovated at a heavy cost, the others are beyond repair.

KARACHI: The City District Government Karachi plans to start demolishing 194 dangerous buildings soon, said the Karachi DCO Mohammad Hussain Syed at a meeting on Thursday. He added that the residents would be shifted to an apartment block in Scheme 33.

The demolition process is set to start in the old areas of the city including Jamshed Town. A survey on the decrepit buildings was also discussed at the meeting. According to the report, there are around 1,000 old buildings which can be renovated at a heavy cost but the 194 listed as dangerous by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) were beyond repair. The DCO announced that a committee would be set up to implement and carry out the suggestions and demolition.

The DCO was informed that although the SBCA had the authority to declare the buildings dangerous, it had no power to take any action. “If we can save peoples lives by amending the building by-laws, then we should go ahead and do so without any delay,” he said.

“The authorities should make a record of every building constructed in the city with the date, number of floors, apartments and families living inside.”

He added that the utility service providers should disconnect or not supply utilities to unregistered floors in a building.

While talking to The Express Tribune SBCA Chief Controller Manzoor Qadir said that it was SBCA’s responsibility to decide and carry out the demolition.

“The DCO has our support and should be in a better position to explain the demolition process,” he said.

Town administrators, representatives from the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), the police, the CDGK and the Technical Committee on the Dangerous Buildings and the Council of Architects also attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2011.