Daily Times

LAHORE: An amount of Rs 150 million has been approved for the immediate repair and maintenance of the dilapidating buildings inside the Walled City by the Planning & Development Department (P&D) Punjab and Local Government & Community Development (LGCD) Department Punjab, whereas in the first quarter an amount of Rs 50 million will be released to Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) soon.

The funds have been approved and being released on urgent basis as per the directions of the Honourable Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi of Lahore High Court (LHC), who was of the opinion that before the people die due to collision of their houses and later government pays them Rs 500,000 as compensation, the WCLA needed to utilise funds to strengthen the structures and houses on war footing.

The Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi of LHC had directed the P&D and LGCD Departments to release the funds required by WCLA for repairing the dangerous and derelict buildings and at the same time instructed WCLA to immediately start working for the same to avoid any unpleasant scenarios during the monsoon season or otherwise. The judge had previously instructed WCLA to take strict actions against the illegal constructions and encroachments inside the walled city of Lahore upon which the Building Control Department of WCLA had actively started the demolition and sealing of various illegal properties.

Sources informed that there were several dangerous buildings inside the Walled City of Lahore which were being demolished by the owners and were converted into commercial plazas and shops. Sources added that the underprivileged residents of the Walled City had no other option than to sell their property to the land mafia or plaza owners as the residents were unable to manage the repairs on their own.

Further the sources added that due to the increase in dangerous and derelict buildings and lack of maintenance, the commercial zones were taking over the residential units and high heritage areas like Bhatti, Lohari, Mochi and Taxali were being rapidly changed into commercial hubs, thus erasing the original historic buildings. Sources added that the residents had a good plea of monsoon rains for demolishing their houses for selling purposes and most of them demolished their properties intentionally and claimed that the building collapsed due to bad weather and rains.

WCLA Conservation & Planning Director Najamus Saquib while talking exclusively to Daily Times said, “In the first phase we have identified 85 properties inside the Walled City which need immediate repair and the residents or owners of those properties fall below the poverty line and therefore they cannot afford the repairs on their own. This is a good initiative by the Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi to help out the poor families and residents of the walled city Lahore as WCLA lacked funds for this work previously.”

Najamus Saqib informed that 85 properties were scattered all over the Walled City and all of them were residential units.

“Most of them are located inside the Lohari, Bhati and Delhi Gate areas which are high residential zones of the city. The process of repairing all these buildings is of almost three quarters which is eight to nine months and we are dividing the properties on priority basis,” Saqib added.

Saqib further said that Rs 50 million would be released in a couple of days and the same amount would be released after every three months to WCLA.

“The repairs and maintenance works would be carried out as per the Building Bylaws of WCLA. There are several important and high architectural merit buildings among these 85 dangerous buildings and I think the most important ones are in the locality of Moti Tibba inside Bhatti Gate. These properties belong to the residents who cannot afford the repairs,” Saqib said.

He emphasised that the WCLA was working to limit the commercialisation inside the Walled City and the newly approved Master Conservation & Re-Development Plan (MCRP) of WCLA was of immense value and importance to achieve their goals.

“We are following the lines drawn in the MCRP of WCLA and plan to limit the commercial activities in the commercial zones and keep a check on the residential units that their use is not changed. The repairs and maintenance of these dangerous buildings inside the Walled City, Lahore would also enable WCLA to keep the residential unit in the same use and by repairing and strengthening those, the residents will have no plea for demolishing, selling or reconstructing a commercial building on the same property,” Saqib concluded.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.