Over 2,200 Sindh Buildings Await Scrutiny as Fire Safety Audits Stall

KARACHI: Over 63 percent of designated commercial and high-density residential structures across Sindh remain uninspected as provincial disaster monitoring efforts encounter substantial bottlenecks, official data revealed on Monday. Figures documented on the Provincial Disaster Management Authority’s (PDMA) Fire Safety Audits Portal (FSAP) show that more than 2,200 properties out of 3,486 identified sites have yet to be revisited by technical evaluation teams tasked with certifying structural safety standards.

Karachi accounts for the highest concentration of statutory violations in the province, recording 162 non-compliant structures across major commercial corridors. Despite recurring factory and mall blazes that have claimed dozens of lives in recent years, the digital portal indicates persistent coordination deficits between municipal fire departments, the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), and district disaster management units responsible for physically enforcing compliance orders.

The sluggish inspection momentum creates grave hazards for hundreds of thousands of daily occupants, exposing urban centers to preventable catastrophic emergencies. Structural engineers and safety advocates note that widespread disregard for core fire-fighting requirements—such as pressurized fire exits, certified fire suppression systems, clear evacuation routes, and audited electrical infrastructure—continues unchecked due to lax penal enforcement against non-compliant commercial landlords.

Civic groups and business leaders are urging the Sindh government to overcome operational logjams and hold negligent building owners accountable under provincial municipal statutes. Provincial authorities are scheduled to convene an inter-agency progress review in Karachi next week to streamline physical inspection teams, clear portal backlogs, and initiate legal proceedings against chronically non-compliant commercial establishments.