Panel of engineers to monitor construction work at Capital
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—A panel of engineers to be constituted by National Engineering Council (NEC) will monitor construction work of multi-storey apartments in Islamabad, Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Kamran Lashari said Monday.
“A new set of rules for construction of buildings in the capital is on the anvil,” he told reporters. The NEC-appointed panel will inspect quality and standard of building material and ensure strict compliance with approved map and specifications.
One engineer from the panel will monitor all stages of construction of a building and that expert will be answerable to the competent authority, Lashari said. The Chairman said a fact-finding committee was currently reviewing the reports prepared by a panel of experts on the collapse of the Margalla Towers residential complex.
The effort is aimed at determining whether any irregularity committed in the construction of the apartment blocks that crashed when the earthquake struck on October 8 morning. “If anyone is found guilty over the construction work of theMargalla Towers, he would be brought to book and no leniency would be shown in this regard,” he said.
Lashari said it might be difficult to keep vigil over construction of houses because of the large number being built by citizens. However the CDA is trying to evolve a strategy to prevent any faulty or sub-standard construction of houses in different residential sectors, he added. Lashari said the new laws would also take care of seismic factors so that quake-resistant buildings were made.
He said that the crisis control management would be given special attention to handle the situation in case of any emergency or natural calamity “We are studying the arrangements made in foreign countries like Japan, Turkey and Iran so that we can benefit from their experience in dealing with seismic risks,” he said.