Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is preparing to launch a drive against those buildings, which are occupied by their owners without obtaining a completion certificate from the Building Control Section (BCS).

The “Completion Certificate” means a certificate of completion of a residential or commercial building, developed in accordance with the prescribed rules and regulation, issued by the CDA.

“No building or structure or part thereof shall be occupied or used without obtaining the completion certificate from the authority within three months after the expiry of the initial construction period,” the section 2.8.1 of the Islamabad Residential Sectors (Building Control) Zoning Regulations 2005 mentions.

However, currently, a majority of the buildings situated in different sectors have been occupied by their owners without obtaining a completion certificate from the BCS, which includes public and private buildings, hotels, institutions, industries and many more.

A well-placed source inside the BCS briefed that around 80 per cent commercial buildings did not take their completion certificate so far while the owners of residential buildings mostly collect the completion certificate before occupying the buildings.

“The owners of commercial properties in ninety per cent cases deviate or exceed from their approved plans and when they come to us for obtaining completion certificates we communicate the same violations and ask them to remove so they avoid to take the completion certificate,” he added. Another officer commented: “In most of the cases the buildings are being occupied without proper instruments of fire and safety and they also don’t have emergency exits, which are necessary to obtain a completion certificate.”

The matter resonated in Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the case of Grand Hayat Hotel, in which the CDA had cancelled its lease agreement over failing in obtaining a completion certificate besides several other irregularities.

IHC questioned in the previous hearing whether it is only a single building which does not have a completion certificate or others are also available and if available then what actions have been taken by the authority so far against them as it took against the Grand Hayat Hotel. To avoid the court’s criticism, the authority has decided to warn the owners of commercial buildings of strict action in case of failing to obtain the completion certificate from the authority. An advertisement in this regard will also be published in the national dailies to inform the masses.

The Director BCS, Shafi Marwat, while responding on the issue said: “We are going to launch a drive against the buildings, which are being occupied without obtaining a completion certificate.” A time period of 15 days would be given to owners to obtain the said certificate from the authority otherwise strict action would be taken against these buildings and their lease agreements would be cancelled by the authority, he added.

The CDA charges Rs.10 per square feet as a completion scrutiny fee from the owners, which becomes a considerable sum in case of big towers. The authority is losing millions under this head while a firm commitment in this regard will not only help to enforce the CDA’s regulations in the true spirit, but also give monetary benefits to the authority.

On the other hand, the builders community says it is the mandate of the civic body to monitor the construction work at each stage then why they conveyed the objections whenever anybody applies for a completion certificate.