Press Conference for the restoration of the historic Calcutta House and over 500 other notified sites.

Karachi, March27, 2018:A press conference was arranged by Heritage Foundation, Pakistan, at Karachi Press Club, for the restoration of historic Calcutta House, a colonial heritage building, a part of which collapsed recently, displacing eighteen families residing on the site, and to create awareness about more than 500 other similar structures that are on the verge of collapse. The conference was well-attended by the media as well as the architect fraternity.

HFP Chairperson, architect Yasmeen Lari addressed the media and the guests present. She informed,“Heritage Foundationhas carried out a study of Calcutta House. Our findings have proved that its structural walls are in a robust state and the minor cracks, etc. can be easily rectified, while the walls and floors of the collapsed portion can also be easily rebuilt.” It was also found that the seepage of water and later-period poorly executed RCC construction caused the collapse and are responsible for posing continuing threat. Also, additions on the roof are a violation and a threat to the building, and hence, must be removed. She appealed that threats to the structure could be minimized by undertaking restoration works, thus making it safe for habitation.

Yasmeen Lari also emphasized that over 1,000 buildings are notified, atleast 50 per cent of which are now under threat owing to new development and approvals by the Sindh Heritage Advisory Committee. In order to adequately tackle the situation, she recommended the following steps:

·         Government should ensure that notified buildings not be allowed to be demolished for want of funding or without professional evaluations.

·          The Sindh Heritage Advisory Committee members who have been sitting on the committee for decades, and now freely giving permission for demolition, must be replaced with new members.

·          No private member should be allowed to be on the committee for more than two years and for no more than two terms.

·         Any reconstruction on the site of notified buildings should carry the same FAR (Floor Area Ratio) as the original notified heritage building. This will deter those who destroy city’s heritage assets for replacement with multistory buildings. The maintenance of the same FAR will ensure the low-rise character of old Karachi. This will also ensure that there is no extra load on the already overloaded physical infrastructure e.g. roads, water supply and sewerage systems.

·         Media to publish details of buildings under threat in order to apprise the citizens of the endangered state of the city’s heritage. HF will provide the pictures of endangered heritage structures on a regular basis.

·         The first priority is to make endangered and ‘dangerous’ heritage buildings safe and prevent their collapse, for which government and other institutions must come forward to help.

a.       In case government is unable to provide the necessary funding, citizens are requested to come forward to donate material and services in kind.

b.      HF is willing to provide pro-bono services in providing evaluations and solutions to all those who wish to save Karachi’s heritage.

Overall, the press conference was a positiveinitiative taken by HFP to restore the heritage sites of Karachi with the help of KMC. It is hoped that the concerned authorities will take immediate action for quick recovery of the Calcutta House and similar structures which are in a dilapidated condition.