ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan’s capital have served the Islamabad Marriott Hotel with a notice this week over inadequate fire-safety measures, days after a hospital blaze killed 14 newborn babies and triggered a renewed crackdown on safety violations across the city.
The notice, issued by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Islamabad’s municipal authority, followed an inspection of the luxury hotel and identified deficiencies in its fire and life-safety arrangements under regulations governing fire prevention in the capital.
The action comes less than a week after a fire tore through a nursery at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, one of Islamabad’s largest public hospitals, killing 14 newborns on Aug. 26. A CDA cited inadequate and non-standard fire and life-safety arrangements and said some exits were locked or obstructed. PIMS officials have disputed that exits were locked during the blaze.
Since the disaster, municipal authorities have intensified inspections across Islamabad, sealing several high-rise buildings and imposing fines on hospitals for failing to comply with fire and life-safety requirements.
The Sept. 1 notice to the Marriott was issued under the “Islamabad Fire Prevention & Life Safety Regulations 2010,” according to a copy seen by Arab News.
“During the inspection ... deficiencies were observed in the fire safety arrangements/system,” the notice said, adding that the hotel had been found in violation of Sections 3 and 4 of Islamabad’s fire prevention and life safety regulations, which set out requirements relating to fire-safety arrangements.
It directed the hotel to address the deficiencies identified during the inspection and obtain a compliance certificate after completing the required corrective measures. It also warned that failure to rectify the deficiencies could trigger enforcement, including the sealing of the building.
The Islamabad Marriott is one of the Pakistani capital’s best-known luxury hotels and regularly hosts foreign officials, diplomats, business executives and other high-profile visitors.
The latest enforcement drive has highlighted longstanding shortcomings in fire preparedness in Islamabad, a rapidly growing city where authorities have acknowledged widespread non-compliance with building-safety requirements.
In January, the CDA completed a fire-safety and hazard-control survey covering 6,500 public and private buildings, including 300 government properties. It found that most buildings had not obtained approval for their fire-safety plans and had not been issued completion or fire-safety certificates. Authorities subsequently directed building owners and occupants to submit the required certification or face legal action, fines and other enforcement measures.
The survey followed a deadly gas-cylinder explosion in Islamabad and came amid heightened concern over building safety after a major fire at a shopping complex in the southern city of Karachi. Authorities said at the time that emergency exits should be available in residential and commercial buildings to protect occupants from fires and electrical short circuits.
