Daily Times

LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) has launched a survey for documenting all the 22,000 properties inside the walled city, Daily Times learnt.

Documentation of 15,000 buildings was completed and remaining would be completed in next two months. Many of the properties inside the Walled City of Lahore have become derelict due to aging and illegal constructions around them and so a proper documentation of the properties is needed to save them and avoid any disaster for human life, Daily Times further learnt.

According to the residents of the walled city, the ages old buildings were becoming a threat to human life as they were collapsing and causing casualities in the past. The residents mentioned an occurrence of such incident near the Wazir Khan Mosque, where a few months ago a house collapsed resulting in the death of the family members. Residents were of the view that the old buildings despite adding to the beauty of the city were becoming dangerous for them and the WCLA needed to take sufficient measures for that. The residents were of the opinion that many among them could not afford the rehabilitation of their house or property and it should be taken up by the WCLA if they desired to save the heritage buildings.

WCLA Deputy Director Building Control Mubashir Hassan said that the WCLA had already initiated a survey of ‘dangerous buildings’ within the jurisdiction of the city, keeping in view the conditions of the buildings in the city.

“Aiming to accomplish the survey, a team of 18 skilled person including town planners, engineers, architects and other professionals was inducted by WCLA. For a systematic approach, the area of the walled city was divided into nine consecutive wards with seven different teams. After detailed consensus within experts and professionals, the stages and deliverables of the survey were decided. These included the detailed photographic documentation of the property, filling of form with specific details, filtration of information for the geographical information system and policymaking for the sake of protection of heritage buildings and reduction of potential life threats,” Mubashir Hassan added.

He further mentioned that after the set stages, a detailed analysis engaging technical experts would be carried out for finalising the status of the seriousness of the buildings.

“In case of any building found highly dangerous, it would be considered for demolition and rest of other categories would be repairable,” Hassan commented. He further informed Daily Times that the findings of the survey would help WCLA strengthen existing policies and will provide ground for formulating new policies.

Team member of the surveying group Arhama who is a town planner by profession said that it was a unique survey which was very much needed to save the heritage of the city. She said that it was a tough survey and each property from inside was also being documented. She said that WCLA was giving a chance to the younger professionals for coming into the field and learning the methodologies.

While talking to Daily Times, a local resident of Lohari Khawaja Imran was of the opinion that such initiatives should have been taken earlier by WCLA. He said that buildings inside the city were rapidly deteriorating and measures should be taken before all is vanished from the city. He added that the teams were accessing the residents for documenting the interior of the property and that was being done for the first time. He said that this work of repair and maintenance should be taken up as early as possible as the monsoon was also approaching.

Published in Daily Times, May 4^th 2018.