ISLAMABAD: Illegal use of residential units as business centres is gaining momentum in the federal capital as people have set up businesses in almost all residential sectors of the capital.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Advocate Shaukat Siddiqui said that people have set up student hostels, embassies, lawyer chambers, beauty parlours, NGO offices, schools, colleges and tuition centres in residential sectors of the capital.
He said that according to Islamabad Residential Sectors Zoning Regulations, no land or building can be put to “nonconforming” use. This specifies that if the owner of a residential building is found using the unit as a business centre, he will be heavily fined and his plot deed can be cancelled.
“The Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration seem least interested in curbing this practice,” he added.
A local trader, Malik Sohail, said that people have been running their business in residential areas for many years but the CDA has not given them any notice. More than 1,000 residential units are currently being used for business purposes, he said. Around 90 student hostels are operating in different residential sectors of the capital, including G-6, G-9, I-8, I-9, I-10, F-8. He said that around 35 such student hostels are functional in sector I-10 alone.
CDA Spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said the authority is ensuring strict compliance to the building-control regulations and have issued notices to offenders. He said the authority has formulated a new list of violators, which will be advertised in newspapers. The Building Control department of the CDA has introduced strict rules regarding use of property and strict action will be taken against those who fail to comply.
“Student hostels are not the real problem, it is the commercial businesses that should be banned,” said Shahid Ajmal, manager of a private student hostel in sector I-10/2. He said that by operating in these sectors, such hostels can provide better facilities to students at reasonable rates.
Arshad Iqbal, who lives in sector G-6, said that people of his area have lodged several complaints to CDA, but the authority has done “nothing” to resolve the issue. Residents of different sectors have demanded that the civic authority devise a strategy to allocate space for student hostels and other business centres outside residential areas of the capital.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2010.
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