| ISLAMABAD-The Building Control Section South of the Capital Development Authority has started a preliminary survey for geo tagging of all legal and illegal commercial buildings falling under its purview.
In the first phase, the geo tagging of all the commercial buildings in Zone-IV and V of the capital would be done for internal use but at a later stage, the same data will be available on the website of the CDA for citizens.
The BCS south is responsible for regulating building bylaws in Zone-IV and V of the capital city where mostly the private housing societies and unplanned areas exist.
Earlier, the data was limited to the files only and there was no automated system to get the centralized information but now in the field survey, the teams are going on ground and tagging the building locations on Google maps by adding required information alongside as well.
Once completed, all the details related to the commercial and residential buildings will be available electronically for its future use. The geo tagging will enable the users to know the location, size, condition, legal and ownership status details online by a single click.
When contacted, Director BCS South Muhammad Shafi Marwat has said that as per the vision of the Chairman Capital Development Authority Captain (R) Noor ul Ameen Mengal, we are trying to minimize the human interventions and trying to shift maximum things online. He confirmed that the teams have been constituted and a survey is being conducted across his area for the geo tagging to trace the illegal developments and to take actions against them in a proper way.
Meanwhile, to end the pendency and constant complaints of the citizens regarding delays, the building plans approval mechanism is also shifted on automation as earlier the same were being carried out manually.
Earlier, a plot owner could only get approval of his map by submitting drawings in the offices of respective housing societies but there were complaints that the housing societies were delaying in sending these submitted cases to CDA and in some cases, the files remained pending in society offices for several months.
However, now an automated system has been evolved in which at the time of the submission of a building plan at society office, the same is also intimated to the concerned section of the BCS for its active follow up.
Mr. Marwat explained that we have launched first phase of this project but in the second phase, the plot owners would be able to directly submit their building plans at One Window of the civic authority and BCS will get necessary verifications and NOC from the housing societies through a portal, which is under development at present.
He said further that once the first two phases will be completed and launched successfully, we are planning in the third stage to give access to the citizens online for their building plans without visiting any office. He said an online system will be evolved, in which citizens can create an account online on their own and submit, track and get approval without visiting CDA or society offices.
It is pertinent to mention here that though automation is a longstanding issue and besides tall claims of the city leadership it could not be materialized in the past.
However, Mr. Marwat is a dynamic officer and it is to his credit that he had evolved a system to enforce building bylaws on the rural areas of Islamabad for the first time in the history, when he was made a director of the newly created formation of Building Control Section-II few years ago. |
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