“Naya Pakistan Housing Program”, Why not “Naya” building code?

Naya Pakistan Housing Program

The basic necessities of life include food, water, clothing and most importantly shelter. In this regard, Pakistan has shortage of more than 10 million houses and this number is growing drastically every year. To overcome this issue and improve the housing system of the country, government of Pakistan has launched Naya Pakistan Housing Program (NPHP). According to this program, government has decided to make 5 million new houses. The reason behind this program is to build affordable houses for people and providing everyone the access to those houses.

Building codes

Moreover, before any construction is done in the city, departments like CDA, LDA, QDA RDA, KDA, etc., have some building codes that the construction companies must follow. These codes are different for different type of buildings and different for different cities. These codes are basically instruction that tells us how to construct a building, the area which we should leave on the sides of the building, the height of the building and the storeys etc. Similarly, there are some seismic codes which are related to the safety of the building.  For instance areas that have more earthquakes or are red zones in regard to earthquakes, building of higher number of storey may not be built there.

In addition, we also need to have strong buildings that are able to bear earthquake shocks. Besides these basic rules and regulations here, we will talk about some important factors which the government should add to the building codes and make them a must. These factors are of prime importance and will serve and help to create healthy environment.

Sewerage system

In this regard, concerned authorities need to review sewerage system of Pakistan and the water that is wasted through it. In most areas of Pakistan, mostly supply of water is taken from groundwater with exception in Karachi and some area of Islamabad, where they use surface water. A more recent study indicates an available supply of water of little more than 1,000 m³ per person, which puts Pakistan in the category of a high stress country.

“According to Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Pakistan wastes water worth Rs25 billion every year.”  Dawn News

Sewerage system of Pakistan works via a big network of underground pipes and travels a long distance to be dumped. The government should replace this system with something that is more environmentally efficient.

Waste management system

Pakistan has a deficiency of waste management system, as in most developing countries, which results in damaging environment. Instead of dumping millions of dollars’ worth waste water in remote areas, governmnet should run it through Waste Water Treatment Plants which would filter waste water and similarly a Waste to Energy Conversion plant which would convert human waste into biogas. Which would be used for the production of electricity. Not only this, but human waste can also be used as fertilizer in agriculture. In the same context, Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have invented a new toilet system that will turn human waste into electricity and fertilisers and also reduce the amount of water needed for flushing by up to 90 per cent compared to current toilet systems in Singapore.

” Overview. Pakistan generates about 48.5 million tons of solid waste a year, which has been increasing more than 2 percent annually”

Electricity system

Additionally, every house should have a separate and independent system of electricity production. City departments should install solar panels to our houses which will produce energy enough for a house. Adding to it, there should be a distributed grid system through which we can store the extra energy or electricity in the grid. It means that a solar panel continuously makes electricity which is normally more than the requirement of a single house. Instead of wasting this extra energy, we should store it to the grid. From there onward can be transferred to the main grid by doing so government can not only save the electricity of its own but gain more through this system. Therefore, concerned development authorities of the cities should add and enforce these systems to and through building codes.

High rise buildings

Lastly, high rise buildings play a vital part in the development of any region. They look presentable. Next, these buildings have markets and industrial areas in the bottom and residential areas on the top of them. Moreover, when everything is available downstairs, the need for using vehicles will perish. This will help in less emission of harmful gases. Building vertically means having more horizontal space that can be used for more greenery and keep the environment more clean and livable.  Keeping these points in focus while reshaping the building codes would not only solve our current problems but also the problems that may arise in the future.