KARACHI: The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has eased out the procedure for the approval and issuance of construction permits for residential houses and non-obnoxious warehouses (Category-I buildings).

This is the first step towards reforms aimed at facilitating the acquiring of construction permits for citizens, said a statement on Friday.

This has been done on the directive of the chief minister Sindh and with technical support from the World Bank.

As part of this ground-breaking reform, the requirement of interdepartmental No Objection Certificates (NOCs), and other NOCs of Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KW&SB), Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and Exercise & Taxation Department Government of Sindh have been waived off.

For this first in a series of reforms, the procedures and the timeline for approvals of construction permits for residential houses and non-obnoxious warehouses have been revisited. These reforms are applicable to Karachi.

On the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Building and Town Planning Regulations, notifications regarding these amendments to procedures and timeline have been published.

Every case of construction permit falling within Category-I shall be approved and issued in a single-stage procedure within a period of 30 days, as opposed to 60 days earlier.

The SBCA is also in the process of introducing a risk-based evaluation system for issuance of Construction Permits, with the pilot project currently underway for Category-I buildings.

The Category-I of buildings includes the residential bungalows up to 399 square yards having (G+1) floors.

Any other building on plot up to 120 square yards with a height of up to 33 feet. Any non-obnoxious warehouse having height up to 35 feet and or having plot up to 1100 square yards.