Daily Times

LAHORE: Almost 601 dangerous properties have been identified by the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) inside the Walled City of Lahore, sources told Daily Times on Wednesday.

They said that lack of funds was one of the reasons due to which the dangerous buildings could not be repaired and were rapidly increasing in number.

According to the sources, out of 22,000 properties 601 were listed as dangerous and out of them 262 were set for demolishing and 228 needed immediate repairing.

A list of such properties was prepared by the Building Control Department of the WCLA in which all the said properties had been mentioned along with the details, a copy which is available with Daily Times.

According to the list, the number of dangerous buildings (including high and low merit dangerous buildings) is 67 in Ward A (Taxali and Bhatti Gate), 46 in ward B ( Bhatti, Lohari and Pani Wala Talaab), 35 in Ward C ( Lohari, Shah Almi, Pani Wala Talaab, Gumti Bazaar), 98 in Ward D( Lohari, Shah Almi and Mori Gate), 29 in Ward E (Mochi Gate, Rang Mehal, Delhi Gate, Azam Cloth Market, Pakistan Cloth Market, Sheranwala and Masti Gate), 98 in Ward F (Akbari Gate, Chunna Mandi, Kashmiri Gate, Pakistan Cloth Market, Azam Cloth Market, Masti Gate, Rang Mehal, Sheranawala gate), 84 in Ward G (Delhi Gate, Yakki Gate, Sheranwala Gate), 71 in Ward H (Delhi Gate, Akbari Gate) and 73 in Ward I (Rang Mehal, Mochi Gate).

WCLA Assistant Director (Building Control) Usman Diwan told Daily Times that most of the dangerous properties were in Lohari area, as it is biggest ward having almost 4,000 residential units. He added that almost 262 buildings had been listed as highly dangerous out of 601 buildings and a proposal for demolishing them was being prepared by the WCLA. “These 262 buildings are extremely dilapidated and cannot be preserved. These buildings are also a threat to the neighbourhood,” Diwan said.

When contacted, WCLA Deputy Director (Building Control) told Daily Times that notices had been served on the owners of dilapidated building. “We have informed owners that their properties are dangerous and can be a threat to the nearby properties. If they are reluctant to repair and maintain their property we get an affidavit signed by them to keep a record. We also inform the nearby police and chairman of the union council (UC) concerned about the dangerous properties,” he explained.

WCLA Director (Conservation and Planning) Najamus Saquib said that all the dangerous properties were being listed on the Geographical Information System (GIS) of the authority. “We are planning to prepare a planning cycle-1 (PC-1) for highly dangerous buildings and once the funds are released against the PC-1 we would start repair and maintenance of the buildings according to the priority list.”

Another thing which the WCLA has started is the survey of the properties’ interior. “Buildings which have a fine exterior have sometimes a poor dilapidated interior. We have completed a survey of 9,000 buildings’ interior and others are in process,” he said.

He added that the top priority was being given to the highly dangerous properties as the monsoon was approaching and for that purpose public information messages would be run on the local cable network, while pamphlets would be distributed among residents and an effective awareness campaign would be launched this week.

Published in Daily Times, April 12^th 2018.