Rawalpindi: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Saturday (December 21) agreed to implement new building and zoning regulations; which include a provision allowing for the construction of a ten storey building on a minimum 10-kanal plot in the city — a news source reported.
Furthermore, structures built against the approved building plans will be regularised after the imposition and collection of a heavy fine. The new RDA regulations are an adaptation (with slight amendments) of the recently approved Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Building and Zoning Regulations 2019.
The decision was taken in the 45th meeting of the RDA’s governing board. The meeting was chaired by RDA Chairman Tariq Mehmood Murtaza, while the newly-appointed members of the governing body also attended the meeting. RDA Director General (DG) Ammara Khan and Water and Sanitation Authority Managing Director Mohammad Tanveer were also among the attendees.
As per the approved regulations, the builders can allocate 10% of the total area of residential buildings for commercial usage. In this regard, the RDA now allows:
10 marla apartment buildings to have shops on the ground floor on a maximum area of 450 sq. ft.
1 kanal apartment buildings to have two shops (each measuring not more than 450 sq. ft.) on the ground floor.
2 kanal apartment buildings to have four shops (each not more than 450 sq. ft.) on the ground floor.
2 kanal and larger buildings must also have a community hall measuring not more than 800 ft in size, which cannot be used for commercial purposes.
These approved conditions clarify that the apartment building area shouldn’t be less than 4 kanals for the apartment building parameters to be considered on the basic unit for such projects. In addition, the rules also state that the enhancement of the commercial area in 10 kanal buildings that feature 10 stories should be reconsidered, since such buildings are required to have at least 200 apartment units.
