740 death-trap buildings still standing

KARACHI:

Karachi's building safety watchdog has come under fire after an audit by the Auditor General of Pakistan revealed that 740 declared dangerous buildings in the city remain standing, while the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) awarded demolition contracts without ensuring that contractors possessed the necessary machinery or technical expertise. The damning report has exposed a wider pattern of regulatory lapses, questionable construction approvals, financial irregularities and administrative failures within the authority tasked with safeguarding the city's buildings.

The audit report has also questioned the effectiveness of SBCA's much-touted single-window system for construction approvals. Despite its introduction to streamline the process, the authority took an average of 50.85 days to issue construction permits, compared with just 14 days under the manual system in 2019.

The report further revealed that construction permits were issued without obtaining mandatory NOCs for sale and advertisement, potentially exposing buyers to legal complications arising from the sale of units lacking the required clearances.