Following a meteoric rise in the prices of construction materials, citizens and developers are ditching housing plans as a significant decline was witnessed in the number of applications submitted to building approving bodies of the garrison city.
Due to the decline in building plans and other development projects, the construction sector is going through a severe crisis, rendering daily wage labourers unemployed.
The stagnation of the sector has resulted in a significant decline in revenue for the civic agencies that approve building plans in Rawalpindi.
These institutions include the cantonment boards of Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonments, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), and the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (MCI).
According to sources, developers who have obtained approvals for commercial buildings are also refraining from starting the construction work. They said in some cases, the developers have applied for an extension after the expiry of approvals.
Sources further said applicants are displaying lackluster in fulfilling the requirements despite repeated notices from the authorities concerned.
Speaking on the issue, Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Building Control and Land Use Director and Chief Planner Jamshed Aftab said that the applications for commercial buildings have decreased significantly, and so is the case with residential building plans.
“The reason behind this seems to be the extraordinary increase in the prices of building materials,” the official said.
Currently, the price of a ton of iron rods has reached Rs0.2 million in the open market. Similarly, the prices of other building materials have also been affected by inflation.
MCI Planning Officer Shahzad Haider said there has been an extraordinary decrease in the submission of commercial building plans.
He said developers are reluctant in starting work on approved plans due to the incessant rise in inflation.
An officer of the cantonment board building department said that their department is also facing similar cases where construction work has not been started despite approvals.
On the other hand, masons including Muhammad Ramzan, Akbar Malik, and Shah Jahan, and labourers Muhammad Basharat, Samiullah, and Muhammad Yasin said they are not getting work anymore.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2023.
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