Govt approves construction of additional 5 floors of Shehjar Apartments

Srinagar: J&K government has approved the proposal to add five floors more to its Shehjar Apartments at Bemina here.

The project is being executed by Srinagar Development Authority (SDA).

   

An official said that after getting approval, some paperwork including drawing and designing is going on and work to construct more five floors will be started shortly.

Officials said after the completion of the project, it will now be the largest building in Kashmir.

“With the addition of five more floors, the height of the building would be approximately 150 feet. Thus, it would be the highest tower in Kashmir,” he said.

SDA is constructing more than 600 residential apartments on 90 kanals of land as part of its efforts to expand the Srinagar vertically.

With the addition of new five floors, the number of flats would go upto 620.

An official said that construction of five additional floors was proposed keeping in view the Srinagar will have no land left for horizontal expansion for residential purposes— if the current land use pattern continues.

Keeping in tune with the fast-changing urban landscape of Srinagar and mounting stress on its scarce land resources, a vertical housing colony Shehjar Apartments is under construction at Bemina.

According to data collected by the town planning organisation, at present limited land is suitable for development in Srinagar. Out of total area of 766 sq kms, 160 sq kms is already developed.

In addition, 157 sq kms (28 percent area) is ecologically fragile, 107 sq km (14 percent area) has medium to high vulnerability to floods, 31 sq kms (4 percent of area) is restricted area under defense use, parks and graveyards.

This leaves the city with just 311 sq kms of land for all kinds of constructions.

“In crude terms, about 57 percent of the total area cannot be used for any development,” reads a report by the town planning organisation.

To tackle the situation, the Shehjar vertical building project will accommodate hundreds of families, or thousands of souls.”Shehjar apartments will open doors to future living in the city under the concept of cluster housing units,” said an official.

The 3D visualization of Shehjar Apartments through graphics and animation shows that besides vertical building, it would have 40-feet wide main road and 30 feet wide internal roads transecting various apartment blocks.

The apartment complex will also have parking, recreational areas, event hall, shopping mall, elevators, round-the-clock power backup for common spaces and other modern facilities.

The ground floor of Shehjar Apartments has been constructed above the highest flood level.

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