Think green: KMC told to follow laws or else

The petitioner claimed that only 100-feet wide roads could be declared as commercial

KARACHI:

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has been directed to adhere to the law while undertaking the commercialisation of roads in the city.

The direction came from a bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) which was hearing a constitutional petition against the mushrooming commercialisation of roads, even those not permissible under the law, on Saturday. A non-government organisation, Shehri-CBE, moved the court against violations of the criteria laid down in the law for the change of status of roads and streets from residential to commercial.

The petitioner said that 17 major thoroughfares and arteries were declared open for commercialisation through change of land use with the approval of the KMC. These include Sharae Faisal, Tariq Road, Rashid Minhas Road, University Road, Sharae Pakistan, Nazimabad No. 4 Road, Sharae Sher Shah Suri, Jahangir Road, Khayaban-e-Iqbal, Khayaban-e-Clifton, Khayaban-e-Jami, Khalid Bin Waleed Road, Jamaluddin Afghani Road, Allama Iqbal Road, Sir Syed Ahmed Road, Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman Road and Beach Avenue.

The petitioner claimed that only roads, which were 100-feet wide, could be declared as commercial and their status can be changed from non-commercial to commercial ones, as it has been described in the relevant laws. The NGO argued that the Environmental Initial Assessment must be carried out before declaring a non-commercial thoroughfare to commercial to see what would be the impact of its change in the area and its environment.

It recalled that the policy of roads commercialisation had already been challenged in the SHC in various cases. The KMC has recently commercialised nine roads without adhering to the provisions of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, Pakistan Environmental Protection Act and other laws.

The petitioner pleaded to permanently restrain the KMC from commercialising roads or entertain any request for change of the land use from non-commercial to commercial, which is not in compliance with the commercialisation policy gazetted on February 12, 2004. The case was fixed for hearing and adjourned till December 3.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2014.