Density developments: ‘Self-sufficient’ high-rise wins CM’s approval

47-storey building planned opposite Karachi Club.

KARACHI:

If a city has load-shedding and relies on water tankers for its daily supplies it would hardly make sense to build a 47-storey block of flats. But the city and Sindh governments have just granted a builder permission for a skyscraper which appears to be 'self-sufficient'. It will have a hydro-electric reactor for power, reverse-osmosis plants for water supplies and a treatment plant and soak pits for sewage.

The plan for Chapal Skymark was given the green signal by the Sindh High Density Development Board on Tuesday, making it the fourth high-rise building to be sanctioned under the city's new high density law passed in 2010. The building will come up at plot No. 17 on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road in Civil Lines right next to State Life building No. 3.

The plans have been vetted by Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Director-General Manzoor Qadir, who briefed the board with the project's architect Akbar Jameel at Chief Minister House on Tuesday. "This will be the first building in Pakistan with its own hydroelectric power generation," they said, adding that it would introduce an "innovative, low-cost power generation technology" to the city.

The Sindh High Density Development Board has approved a 47-storey building on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road in Civil Lines, making it the fourth high-rise building to be sanctioned under the city’s new high density law passed in 2010. The plot covers 3,217 square yards. SOURCE: PRESENTATION GIVEN AT CM HOUSE

This green technology was clearly the star of the presentation and much impressed the chief minister. Indeed, they were talking about it with wonder at the SBCA a day later. One official said that Cogar International Energy Corporation makes the hydro-electric reactors which can produce electricity at less than one US cent per kilowatt hour. "It uses only air to create electricity," says the company website. "Air goes into the system and only air comes out of the power plant, back into the atmosphere." No fuel is needed. The builder plans to install two units, claimed an SBCA official.

CM Qaim Ali Shah wanted more information. "If found feasible, we can apply the same technology to high-consumption government installations, such as the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board," he was reported as saying at the meeting. "We can even use this technology in Thar."

Aside from the reactor, the building will tackle its own sewage to the extent that it will have a wastewater treatment plant and a reverse-osmosis plant for other supplies. Its more creative elements are a funeral parlour, a senior citizens lounge and a helipad.

The plot covers 3,217 square yards, which fulfills a high density board requirement of at least 3,000 square yards. The high density laws also mandate that such projects can only be built on 100 feet-wide roads. "The existing road [Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road] is 80 feet but we have a 20-feet setback on either side so that gives us 120 feet," said an SBCA official. Setback refers to the distance from the road.

The building's ground floor goes to shops and showrooms, while the double basement and the first five floors will be used for parking. There is space for 350 motorcycles and 295 cars. The sixth floor will house entertainment facilities, and 160 residential flats will be spread from floors seven to 47.

In the four years since the Sindh High Density Development Board Act appeared in 2010, four major projects have come up: Metro Twin Tower of 30 floors in Frere Town Quarters, also designed by Arch Vision that is doing this project, Bahria Icon (approx. 60 stories) and the Hoshang Pearl (approx. 31 stories).

The next phase for high density development will focus on Tariq Road, Sharae Faisal and Rashid Minhas Road.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2014.