Aftershocks of construction ban; 70 steel re-rolling mills closed in Sindh, Balochistan

November 12, 2018 (MLN): The ban on construction of high-rise and other buildings has started taking toll as all steel re-rolling mills in Sindh and Balochistan have been closed for indefinite period for want of customers and almost 25 thousands workers have lost their livelihoods.

Muhammad Hassan Bakshi, Chairman Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD), said that as a result of construction ban, 70 steel re-rolling mills of Sindh and Balochistan are closed due to very slow consumption of steel bars.

He said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had banned construction of multi-story buildings in Karachi on a wrongly-depicted water crisis report by Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB).

He lamented that 5 lacs workers are rendered jobless due to ban on construction in Karachi but Sindh government has not taken any concrete step to resolve water issue despite passage of 19 months of construction ban in Karachi and now this ban has reached to Hyderabad as well.

Furthermore, hee said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan, after total ban on high-rise construction, has allowed ground plus six floor construction but, allegedly, Water Commission appointed by the SCP has imposed condition of NOCs from utilities agencies before approval of plan by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and has instructed KW&SB not to issue any water NOC for new building construction forcing SBCA not to approve building plan.

He also said that more than Rs. 600 billion investment has been stopped due to ban and hundreds of thousands of people including architects, engineers are rendered jobless and now closure of production by steel re-rolling mills has added oil to fire as 25 thousand of workers have been laid-off. We fear that after closure of steel re-rolling mills, more allied industries will be closed, he lamented.