Ghulam Mahdi Baloch
The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) is a regulatory body in Pakistan that was established in 1979 with the aim of ensuring that all structures built in the province of Sindh adhere to the necessary standards of safety, security, and quality. The primary responsibility of the SBCA is to safeguard the public’s health, safety, and welfare by enforcing rules regarding building planning, construction, material quality, use, occupancy, and maintenance. The SBCA is headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan’s financial capital and the largest city in Sindh. The SBCA is responsible for carrying out routine building assessments, enforcing the government’s established building codes and rules, and ensuring that all construction projects adhere to the pertinent laws and rule. The authority encourages building owners and contractors to use safe and secure construction practices by providing them with knowledge about the importance of building safety and security. The SBCA has been ordered to ensure that approvals for proposed new residential constructions in Karachi are processed swiftly. However, there have been reports of corruption within the SBCA, with allegations that it has become a cesspool of corruption where anything is possible for the right price. The director general (DG) of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Ishaq Khoro, has sought police assistance for apprehending the “mafia members” involved in illegal constructions in the metropolitan city. He wrote a letter addressed to AIG Karachi Khadim Hussain Rind, calling for action against those engaged in illegal construction activities. The letter highlights the alarming presence of a clandestine network of people operating on a large scale within Central District. This network is allegedly functioning as a mafia, with some posing as agents of the SBCA and reportedly demanding bribes from citizens. Their illegal construction projects span across Central District, including Gulberg. In the letter, the SBCA DG identifies several people responsible for these unlawful construction activities. They include Saqib bin Rauf, Kashif Sticker bin Rauf, Fahad Shafiq, Salman, Junaid Nafees, Faraz, and Faisal Hashwani. The letter specifies the plot numbers where the illegal construction is going on. Now days, the SBCA is in action against illegal constructions on the orders of DG SBCA Ishaq Khorro. Many illegal buildings are demolished in different areas of Karachi. The corrupt system in the building control department along with the previous government has also been eliminated, but can corruption be eliminated? This is a big question, to which Ishaq Khoro said that he has dismissed 15 officials for negligence. Ishaq Khorro also identified the illegal housing schemes which are selling their plots without of SBCA’s NOC. And gave a message to the public of Karachi to avoid purchasing plots from these schemes. He also claimed that “The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has established a one-window facility to obtain construction permits, which has reduced the number of procedures and time involved in the issuance of permits. The one-window facility in Karachi for building plan approvals has been relaunched by the SBCA. The SBCA has launched a new portal for the one-window operation in Sindh, which aims to make the process more convenient and hassle-free for applicants.” He said that the portal includes an automated single-window facility for the submission of building plans, which started functioning in September 2019. According to my knowledge, The ACS LG of Sindh has directed the SBCA to introduce a mechanism that ensures applicants do not face any unnecessary hindrance or delay at any step. The SBCA is also working on fully digitizing all wings of the authority to create a complete track record and file management system of all applications received, so that the general public does not have to face any inconvenience or unnecessary waiting. By the way, my topic is to ensure corruption-free system from SBCA and now we can see the improvements in the development but SBCA will have to do more efforts.
