Sindh audit finds 740 dangerous buildings still standing and demolition work given to firms without machinery

Express News, which reported the 740 figure, placed those buildings in Karachi. The SBCA's own counts split differently. In July its officials told the Sindh Public Accounts Committee that the province had 741 buildings on its dangerous list, 588 of them in Karachi, Pakistan Today reported. Audit officials objected at that hearing that the Karachi buildings had not come down. The SBCA said 59 had been evacuated, demolition had been approved for 39, and many residents would not leave until they were offered other housing.

On demolition, the audit questioned the hiring of contractors without specialized machinery or technical expertise and found that required technical and regulatory reports had not been obtained, ARY News reported. Neither report names the contractors or gives contract values.

The audit also found the SBCA's single-window permit system slower than the paper process it replaced. Building permits took 50.85 days on average, against 14 days under the manual system in 2019, Express News reported. Permits went to high-rise projects without the mandatory no-objection certificates for selling and advertising units, and plans were approved for builders who held no SBCA license and did not belong to the Association of Builders and Developers, known as ABAD. Auditors also objected to extra floors added to high-rises without strength, stability or soil tests.

The Auditor General recommended disciplinary action against officials who approved projects in breach of the rules and an inquiry into records the authority failed to produce, according to ARY. Neither report includes a response from the SBCA.