by Mr. Aqeel Chaudhry<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why we will not be seeing any high rise buildings in Pakistan any time soon is because they are expensive? That is only one part of the puzzle that entirely depends on the market. Other parts of the puzzle are the regulations that are not allowing the market to act freely. The rules of high rise are cumbersome and developing societies far away from the city center is low hanging fruit for the developers. We have the glooming examples of Alamgir Tower in Lahore and One Constitution Avenue Tower in Islamabad, both projects have not seen the light of day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regulations that make it costly for developers will ultimately lead to higher costs for end-users. So these regulations dis-incentivize high rise buildings and actually lead to more urban sprawl. Expansion of cities that defies all economic logic. In this piece, we discuss these two very important issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a big and never-ending debate of vertical growth in high-density Urban centers and horizontal urban sprawl. Vertical growth means buildings become mixed-use and theoretically having no height limit while being close to the city center. Horizontal urban sprawl means cities expand away from the city center, thus increasing distance from it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has devised new rules of business in its two cardinal documents called LDA Building and Zoning Regulations (2019) and LDA Land Use Rules (2019). On that account, Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, Vice-Chancellor Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) with the collaboration of Dr. Salman Shah – Economic Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab conducted a roundtable. As Milton Freedman says one of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their end results. Intentions are never judged and only results are discussed at length. However, two aspects are very central to planning mumbo jumbo; one is limiting urban sprawl and second developers providing the parking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First is to put an end\nto urban sprawl. Currently, there is no working boundary of Lahore City. In the\npast attempts were made to include Nankana Sahib, Kasur, and Sheikhupura in\nLahore. Development authorities argue that these draft laws are put after due\nconsultation of the stakeholders on the premise that current infrastructure does\nnot support high rise construction, this is a classic example of hen or egg\nwhich one comes first infrastructure or the high rise building. The government\ncan count on revenue generated, jobs and construction industry through\nencouraging societies but long-term effects are detrimental for city life and\nthe environment as a whole. Like for example, LDA first gives NOC to a society\nsituated far from the city and then provides the necessary road infrastructure\nlike a road for cars, sewerage, electricity, gas, etc. So the vicious circle of\nsocieties developed far from the city center continues to bloom without any\ncheck. We can count the high rise building on our fingers in Pakistan because\nof the cumbersome process to get the necessary permissions. Several times\nattempts were made to simplify the process but it is still not enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cost of the urban\nsprawl is more than double the cost of inner-city development because in the\ncity center most of the infrastructure is already laid down and only needs to be\nupgraded rather than putting whole new infrastructure. Just to take into\naccount the cost of outer city sprawl; the Lahore Ring Road cost Rs. 35 billion\n– won\u2019t that amount be enough to upgrade the city center for high rise\nconstruction. The most important infrastructure here means roads, sewerage\nlines, water, and emergency response. Cities can only act as an engine of\neconomic growth if urban sprawl is curtailed. Our urban policies have long been\nin favor of urban sprawl by disincentivizing density and high rise\nconstruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what rules are\nbasically implying is, you can have your cars and live far away. City\nauthorities will provide you with carpeted roads and free parking to park them\nin the city centers. Let’s see how it is deteriorating our city centers. All\nthe developers are needed to provide parking at their expense which eventually\nsubsidizes car parking. Providing per square of land in the city center costs\nmoney. Surface parking costs developers $5,000 or more per space, underground\nor structured can range between $20,000 and $50,000 per space. So who will be\npaying for these costs, obviously the end-user, thus increasing the costs of\nthe whole project multiple times and forcing everyone to pay for it, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other side, if\nour authorities incentivize high buildings in the city center the ownership of\ncars will naturally decline. If developers still sense a good market for car\nparking spaces, let them do it on their own market analysis, and charge the\nuser separately. If LDA needs to provide car parking then it should charge it\nas well as parking is not a constitutional right, LDA can generate a lot of\nrevenue through parking fees. There are more than 2 million cars registered in\nLahore lets say on conservatively 40% stay in Lahore and LDA earns Rs. 10 per\nday as parking fee, it is a lot of revenue. Cities like Lahore are earning\nmillions of Dollars through parking revenue and it is not a new thing. So in\nshort through parking fees, car use will be discouraged and developers will be\nmore inclined towards better use of that land. These two important problems can\nlead to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s desire to improve liveability in our\ncities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vertical expansion as directed by Prime Minister Imran Khan on multiple instances. More than 10 times he reiterated on the push for high rises in Pakistan since last March when he first tweeted but the progress is still abysmal. The most important consensus in the roundtable was the need to put a full stop on urban sprawl as PM Imran Khan is actively very interested in sprawl being curtailed. I hope that after the current exercise a working boundary of Lahore city will be devised by the PIDE team and LDA so urban sprawl can be contained. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Mr. Aqeel Chaudhry Why we will not be seeing any high rise buildings in Pakistan any time soon is because they are expensive? That is only one part of the puzzle that entirely depends on the market. Other parts of the puzzle are the regulations that are not allowing the market to act freely. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,6,8,7,9],"tags":[133,131,130,118,132],"yoast_head":"\n