HYDERABAD, May 31: The Sindh government’s directorate of Town Planning is practically unable to enforce its writ over taluka municipal administrations (TMAs), particularly old and new Sukkur TMAs as far as buildings regulations are concerned.

Resultantly, the TMAs, especially the TMAs of Sukkur — the third biggest city of Sindh — continue to approve construction of commercial buildings without having required capacity and professional expertise.

Senior officials approached by Dawn have equated the situation in Sukkur, particular in the jurisdiction of old Sukkur TMA, as the one fraught with danger because this is the only city after Karachi in Sindh, where high-rise buildings of 12 to 14 stories are being built.

“It’s a disaster in making, if I put it in a nutshell,” said an official who was quite concerned over the situation.

The Hyderabad-based Sindh’s Town Planning department, though faced with issues of resources, is struggling to assert its authority after having been delegated powers for ensuring building regulations for six cities of Sindh i.e. Sukkur, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Jacobabad and Thatta by the government in June 2001.

However, under Sections 53(3)(iii) and 54(a)(b),(c) and (d) of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, the TMAs were authorised to prepare spatial plans for taluka in collaboration with union councils, including plans for land use, zoning and functions for which a TMA is responsible.

As per original scheme of things, said the official, a taluka officer (TO) (planning) with technical staff is to be appointed in TMAs for overseeing buildings regulations, plans and structural designs.

“But the officers and technical staff are yet to be appointed to perform these functions and exercise powers to be delegated to them after they are declared ‘authority’ under relevant Sections of SBCO 1979 and its Regulations 1982”, the source said.

Since situation continues to deteriorate in Sindh with particular reference to commercial plazas’ construction without vetting and planning, the Town Planning department was reverted to its June 2001 position in July 7, 2007, by the provincial government which restrained the TMAs from exercising those powers that were delegated to them for approval of private plazas and housing schemes’ construction.

The TMAs of Jacobabad, Sanghar, Nawabshah, Thatta and Mirpurkhas did respond to directive of the department but the TMAs of old and new Sukkur continue to give cold shoulder to such correspondence and have since been issuing NOCs to builders for plazas.

Such is glaring violation of laws and notifications that the Sindh Local Government department had to even apprise the National Accountability Bureau, Sindh, of the situation, through a letter on July 7.

Official sources said that indifferent attitude of Sukkur’s TMAs is quite alarming as it concerns thousands of people who were living or purchasing flats in those plazas whose structural designs had not gone through vetting process or technical scrutiny.

“Without having expertise in buildings’ structural designs and their construction plans how could anyone issue NOC for a plaza,” argued an official.

After October 8, 2005 earthquake in NWFP and Azad Kashmir and under directives of the Supreme Court a seismic zoning has become mandatory. Under this code Sukkur has been placed in category 2-A which requires that every plaza to be built there must have resistance/sustainability against an earthquake of 6 the Richter scale.

The issues of soil investigations and load bearing capacity of land are some of those essential ingredients for construction of any plazas but these have perhaps secondary preference for the TMA officials of Sukkur.

A study of a list of 51 constructed or under construction plazas, which was prepared following a survey by Town Planning department, indicates that for ground plus 5 to ground plus 12 and 14 buildings, NOCs have been issued by the TMAs of Sukkur without vetting of their structure designs and provision of basic amenities like parking, fire-fighting, rights of privacy, escape route, etc.

Even in Hyderabad no such high-rise building is built and maximum number of floors is six or seven in plazas that too in the Cantonment area and not in municipal limits where construction of only ground plus buildings is allowed.

“And all these brisk construction activity is taking place in an area of two kilometres of main urban centre of Sukkur city falling in the jurisdiction of old TMA Sukkur,” claimed the source.