PLANNING FIRM VISIT

RESILIENCE GATEWAY

Resource Person: Plnr. Mutahir

Awan
Group Members:
Mesum Raza
(F2019214001)
M. Usman (F2019214008)
Abdul Rauf (F2019214015)
Course: Professional Planning
Raheel Abbas
(F2019214020)

Department of City and Regional Planning

School of Architecture and Planning
University of Management and Technology Lahore

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Table of Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................1
Keywords...........................................................................................................................................1
Literature Review of Town Planning Firms............................................................................................1
What Does a Town Planning Consultant Do..........................................................................................2
Advice Services..................................................................................................................................2
The importance of town planning for society....................................................................................2
Introduction of Assignment...................................................................................................................3
Objectives..............................................................................................................................................3
Town Planner’s Services........................................................................................................................4
Preliminary Services.......................................................................................................................4
Work stage A.................................................................................................................................4
Work stage B..................................................................................................................................4
Work stage C..................................................................................................................................4
Basic Services.................................................................................................................................4
Other Services...................................................................................................................................4
PCATP Bye Laws for Licensing Of Firms.................................................................................................5
Town Planning Firm...........................................................................................................................5
Category "P-5"...............................................................................................................................5
Category “P-4”...............................................................................................................................5
Category “P-3”...............................................................................................................................6
Category “P-2”...............................................................................................................................6
Category "P-1”...............................................................................................................................6
Shareholding Percentage of a Planning Firm.....................................................................................6
Firm Introduction..................................................................................................................................6
CEO Biography.......................................................................................................................................7
Dialogues Discussion.............................................................................................................................8
Pros....................................................................................................................................................9
Cons...................................................................................................................................................9
Services Resilience Gateway Offer.......................................................................................................10
Learning Outcomes..............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................12
References...........................................................................................................................................12

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 Abstract
In this report we get to know about the firm of town planning that how its work and operate
and what are their key factors, functions. Resilience Gateway is the firm which we discuss
here, their scope of work which type of services they provide. Taimoor Abbasi is the CEO of
Resilience Gateway and what kind of hurdles he face during building up his firm and how he
with his team they achieve their goals. Resilience Gateway Based in Islamabad, the
company is eying on expanding its network throughout the country and abroad. Company is
consistently delivering state of the art design products with due regard to environmental and
socio-economic sensitivities. Dialogue discussion with the chairperson to get to know how
they reach in that position and what we can learn as a student from their experience. They
also mention some rules of PCATP that how we registered our firm with PCATP and in
which category our fill will fall with respect to the experience of the firm.

Keywords
Planning Firm, Town Planner, Professional Planning, Services.

Literature Review of Town Planning Firms

The art and science of ordering the use of land and siting of a buildings and communication
routes so as to secure the maximum practicable degree of economy, convenience and beauty.
An art of shaping and guiding the physical growth of the town creating buildings and
environments to meet the various needs such as social, culture economic and recreational
etc. and to provide healthy condition for both rich and poor to live, to work and to play or
relax the bringing about the social and economic well-being for the majority of mankind. As
cities and towns continue to grow in terms of size and population, there is increasing
demand for professionals that are able to manage these changes. Professionals such as
engineers, architects, building surveyors, economists, developers, politicians, scientists,
environmental scientists and town planners play a very important part in our future. Town
planners in particular, play a very significant role in developing strategies and designing the
communities in which we live, work and play. Town planners’ specialized knowledge aims
to improve our quality of life and create vibrant communities through innovative town
planning. Town planners make your path in navigating the uncertain and daunting prospects
of building a much easier and comfortable experience for you. But this is not where the
complex roles and responsibilities of town planning stop. As large amounts of people move
in and around different urban areas all over the world each and every day the important role
of town planning is to ensure that these areas develop in an economic, environmental and
equal way for those populations. As populations grow local councils have to deal with
ensuring that there is enough housing, water, energy and removal of pollutions, while also
ensuring there is enough fresh food, amongst other things, to go around. A town planner’s
work revolves around these key issues and other issues such as climate change and its effect

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on the urban population in a bid to make urban areas more manageable and divide the
existing resources among the expanding population. (Research Gate, 2019)

What Does a Town Planning Consultant Do

A private town planning consultant can assist you from the beginning of your development
project providing advice, liaising with other consultants, assessing your application against
the relevant state and local policies and preparing your planning permit application for
Council lodgment.
Whether you are a regular property developer or it is your first time developing, seeking the
advice and services of a professional town planner could save you both money and time. 
Gaining the advice of a town planner during the pre-application stage of your project is an
important step in ensuring the success of your project and will assist you to determine if
your project is feasible. If there are foreseeable obstacles with your project, a town planner
will be able to highlight these to prevent you from submitting a proposal that may not be
favorable for approval. Town planners are equipped with the relevant background
knowledge and understanding of the local government requirements and therefore will be
able to advise you on the changes before an application is lodged to Council to ensure you
avoid unnecessary hurdles.
A town planner can assist on small scale residential projects, large multi-dwelling buildings,
townhouse developments or large scale subdivisions. Essentially, a town planner will work
with all the parties involved in a development project to ensure that a proposal has the best
chance of success possible.

Advice Services
 Pre-purchase advice
 Due diligence
 Highest and best use analysis
 Response to show cause/enforcement
 Town planning advice
 Pre lodgment meetings
(Ahmed Construction Company, 2020)

The importance of town planning for society

Planning: It ensures new towns and urban areas are designed in a way that there is an
equitable distribution of resources and minimum congestion.
Environment: It helps with balancing the needs of business together with the community at
large with environmental issues. This is to ensure that human activity does not lead to the
degradation of the environment.
Protects: It helps protect the areas of interest in urban centers such as historical buildings
and buildings of architectural importance from damage and elimination.

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Policy: It helps in the formulation and implementation of urban policy working with
authorities at the local and national levels.
Development: It ensures that only the areas that are suitable for development are actually
developed.
The important work town planners do is gaining increasing recognition as communities
place greater emphasis on live ability, environmental sustainability as well as the design and
feel of places and public space. People and decision-makers are also increasingly interested
in managing urban growth effectively in order to build a nation worth inheriting for future
generations.

Introduction of Assignment
The task is about to do a field visit and to conduct an interview of the representative of that
registered planning firm. This assignment was assigned us to practice a field approach
exercise in which we approached a firm which is registered with PCATP and ask the
representative of that firm to talk about the Town Planning and its scope in market. This was
a real time scenario when we studied about the rules and regulations of PCATP for
registration of our own planning firm. This task included on different interested steps as:
 Selection of the Firm (Resilience Gateway)
 Get the Contact of Representative
 Get an appointment for interview
 Visit the Firm
 Q&A session
 Data Collection
 Compiling data and generate report

Objectives
Some of the objectives we talk about for this assignment. These are some points which were
our main focus while talking with them.
 Practical Experience to get connected with any firm
 Learn about the difficulties which we face in field.
 Learn how to start as a fresher in Town Planning.
 Learn about the firm Working and Organization.
 Learn difference between the project base and job contracts
 Which skills set and qualities we have to maintain for a successful field experience.
 To know our senior’s efforts and contributions in field of town planning.
 Importance of Certificates from Authorities
 Check and Balance in field work

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 Town Planner’s Services
Preliminary and Basic Services normally provided by the Town Planners, that being Multi-
Disciplinary the sequence of work stages may be varied. They may be combined to suit the
particular circumstances. The fee for preliminary services is fixed on the time scale + 100%
overhead.
Preliminary Services
Work stage A: Site Reconnaissance Survey.
Work stage B: Surveys – Physical and Socioeconomic, Traffic Surveys, Collection of data,
information, its synthesis and analysis.
Work stage C: Feasibility Report and preliminary estimate.
Basic Services
Work stage D: Conceptual proposals.
Work stage E: Scheme Design at different special levels:-
Regional Planning
Master Planning
Structure Planning and Outline
Development Plan
Work stage F: Detailed Design – Detailed Layout Plan of Housing Estates, Industrial
Estates, Commercial Estates and Redevelopment and Action Area Plan Schemes.
Work stage G: Design of Services like water supply, Sewerage, drainage, roads, electricity,
gas, telephones etc.
Work stage H: Demarcation on site as per approved Plan of roads.
Work stage I: Bills of quantities and preparation of estimates.
Work stage J: Tender action and award of work
Work stage K: Project supervision.
Work stage L: Completion.
Preliminary services are normally charged on a time basis and Basic Services on a
percentage basis

Other Services
Services which may augment the Preliminary and Basic Services, or which may be the
subject of a separate appointment. Fees for these services are normally charged on a time or
lump sum basis, or based on the Fee Scales of that particular discipline. (Pakistan Council of
Architects and Town Planners, 1983)

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 PCATP Bye Laws for Licensing Of Firms

The Licensing of Town Planning firms under Clause (n) of Section 8 of the Ordinance shall
be carried out in accordance with the following bye laws namely:
1. The term “FIRM” used in these byelaws mean any person, partnership, corporate
body or any other legal entity which independently performs study, prepares reports,
makes design, supervises project implementation, construction or similar advisory
activities in the respective town planning discipline and is licensed as such by the
Council.
2. “Regulations” means the regulations framed by the Council for the conduct and
practice of town planning firms.
3. “Bio-Data” means the professional qualifications and experience of the technical
staff working with the firm and their particular status in the firm.
4. “Allied Professions” means all such professions directly or indirectly related or
associated to the performance of professional town planning works.
5. “Board of Assessors” means the team or group of three persons (Two Architects
and one Town Planner) appointed by the Chairman PCATP. Each member of this
Board must have at least fifteen years’ professional experience.
6. “Portfolio” means the details and value of works executed/ongoing by the firm.
7. “Foreign firm” means the enterprise incorporated or registered as a consulting town
planner outside Pakistan.
8. “Project” means the planning and allied works described in the scope of
professional services to be rendered by the firm for the employer;
a) “Registered Planner” means any person registered with PCATP is allowed
to independently undertake professional planning work as per PCATP
Ordinance 1983 or similar advisory activities in the planning discipline and is
registered as such by the Council.
b) "Copyright" means the exclusive right to reproduce the work. As per Clause
13a of the Pakistan Copyright Ordinance 1962, the copyrights of all
documents prepared for a project will rest with the firm that created those
documents. Moreover, if two or more planners worked together to create the
plans/documents, then the copyright will be owned jointly by them.
9. “Category” means the type of registration required by the firm. The licensing of
firms will be offered in "P-5", "P4", P-3", "P-2" and "P-1" for town planning firms,
as defined below:

Town Planning Firm

Category "P-5"
Principal Planner should have minimum TWO years of good standing as PCATP registered
planner.

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Category “P-4”
Principal Planner should have minimum FIVE years of good standing as PCATP registered
Planner and having valid National Tax Number (NTN) in the name of Firm as well as
Account Maintenance Certificate from a scheduled bank in the name of the Firm.
Category “P-3”
Principal Planner should have minimum SEVEN years of good standing as PCATP
registered Planner with independent practice in the field of Planning and having valid
National Tax Number (NTN) in the name of Firm as well as Account Maintenance
Certificate from a scheduled bank in the name of the Firm.
Category “P-2”
Principal Planner should have minimum TEN years of good standing as PCATP registered
Planner with independent practice in the field of Planning and having valid National Tax
Number (NTN) in the name of Firm as well as Account Maintenance Certificate from a
scheduled bank in the name of the Firm.
Category "P-1”
Principal Planner should have minimum FIFTEEN years of good standing as PCATP
registered planner with independent practice in the field of Planning and having valid
National Tax Number (NTN) in the name of Firm as well as Account Maintenance
Certificate from a scheduled bank in the name of the Firm.
Provided that such categories shall not apply to participation in OPEN design competition
organized by the Council.

Shareholding Percentage of a Planning Firm

The share holdings of partners/ shareholders of a firm to be eligible for registration shall be
as follows:
 In case of a town planning firm at least Sixty percent of a firms’ ownership and profit
share must belong to PCATP registered town planner of the firm.
As per PCATP Code of Professional Conduct, no firm shall knowingly accept professional
work in connection with which another firm has been appointed to act, except in
collaboration with, or with the consent of, such firm, unless it has been normally notified in
writing by the employer:
 Of the termination of the services of the previous firm, or
 Of its appointment as a general or review firm, and it has informed in writing the
existing firm and the Council of such acceptance.
(PCATP BYE LAWS LICENSING OF FIRMS, 2020)

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 Firm Introduction
Resilience Gateway, a company established in 2008 in pursuance of the dream to establish a
concrete platform to ensure inclusive and sustainable development. Based in Islamabad, the
company is eying on expanding its network throughout the country and abroad. Design and
advocacy being the core services offered by them. With the multitude of experience,
company is accomplished to provide a wide range of services including Master planning,
Urban Design, Structural Design, Transport Planning, Environmental Planning,
Architectural Design, TIA Services, Quantity Surveying, Value Engineering, Tender, and
Contract Documentation, Project Management, Project Supervision, Disaster Management,
Topographic Survey, and Environmental Impact Assessment.
The company is a brainchild of some graduate students who envisaged the whole idea and
materialized it through concerted and untiring efforts. Based in Islamabad, this company is
eying on expanding its network throughout the country and abroad. Design and advocacy
being the core services offered by them. Company is consistently delivering state of the art
design products with due regard to environmental and socio-economic sensitivities. They
never fall prey to aesthetic novelties while compromising the appropriateness of design.
They always make sure that aesthetic delicacies and design soundness are complementing
each other while taking great care of financial and time constraints present in client’s brief.
In pursuit of converting problems into opportunities, they always strive to enhance the
environmental values offering users a greater opportunity to live, prosper and develop to
their fullest. (Resilience Gateway, 2020)

CEO Biography
Taimoor Abbasi CEO of Resilience Gateway and
Director Propsure Digital solutions private limited
(IMARAT group)is a renowned urban planner , who did
his bachelor in urban planning from UET Lahore in
2010 and Ms. from NUST into the same field. While
getting hands on experience and delivering towards the
nation cause he worked with many organization mainly
with LDA as an Assistant director metropolitan
Planning, Assistant transport planner with ALMEC
Corporation Tokyo Japan and Head Planning and
development in Arizona Associate.
While working closely on Urban planning I found there should be a proper digitize property
data available which is readily available to assist planner with planning techniques such as:
predicting population growth, zoning, geographic mapping and analysis, analyzing park
space, surveying the water supply, identifying transportation patterns, recognizing food
supply demands, allocating healthcare and social services, and analyzing the impact of
landuse. Hence, working on those line, with the help of talented pool of Pakistan Propsure
digital solutions came up with the launch of first ever digitized Property verification system
initially in Islamabad with collaboration of Government entities.

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We are working on overall Pakistan property digitization which will really be a landmark.

Dialogues Discussion

1. Which Government Body they registered?

Resilience Gateway is registered with FBR and SECP.
2. Which Regulatory Body they link with?
Resilience Gateway is link with PCATP and PEC regulatory Body.
3. Scope of work (what kind of services you provide)?
In scope of work of Resilience Gateway it include Site and Reckoning survey, Landuse
survey, Site Topographic survey, Site Layout Plan, Master Plan, Location Plan, Khasra Plan,
Survey Plan and Detail Layout Plan, Plan submission, concerned authority or authority may
follow-up, If its high rise project in which road width create issues then traffic impact
assessment, traffic count survey, existing situation of site, Pre and Post Project Analysis. In
consultancy services the scope of work is sewerage, drainage, road network etc.
4. Bidding Process of your Firm?
Due to so many rules of government Resilience Gateway commonly less engage with
private bidding project. In Technical Proposal- Company Brief introduction in which what
services your company offers, your complete projects and on wheel projects, Organogram,
Credentials Proposal of projects, Feasibility Reports according to the planning parameters.
In Financial Proposal- We have to put our quotation depends upon the domain of project
5. Their Team / Firm Organogram
 Survey Team (4 members)
 Senior, Junior Draftsman (3 members)
 Admin Support (2 members)
 Town Planner (2 members)
 Engineers (2 members)
Salary of employee depend on Designation, minimum salary is 25000 and then 60000 –
70000. If someone is very Senior than 100000.

6. What are your views about PCATP ordinance? And how you utilize them.
The views of CEO on PCATP ordinance is that PCATP differentiation the work of
Architects and Town Planner. If we talk about Town Planner then as a Town Planner we can
provide professional advices, opinions to client, socio economic and physical survey,

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making feasibility reports in which we gave different alternatives, approaches, cost
implantations, layout plan services or development plan to the clients. Term of References
(TORs) must be done in advance in the agreement with the client. And a Planner didn’t
approved any drawing which he don’t made or which is against the rules.

7. Is your firm offer internship? If yes then what is the requirements of your internship?
Resilience Gateway offer internship twice a year and students must have some basic
knowledge about the field and theoretical work otherwise Resilience Gateway train the
students by sending students in field work and tell them about the parameters of planning.
8. Skill's Requirements for Job?
For getting a job in Resilience Gateway that person must know the Basic knowledge of field,
must be good in some of the software like GIS, AutoCAD or any advance software which is
in demand and also they need to know about the planning parameters.
9. How you handle the accounts of your firm?
All the financial deal of Resilience Gateway is done by the Transaction Advisor (TA) in
Cash or by Online Accounts according to the client comfort. And all their accounts are
registered with FBR.
10. Which type of survey they conduct?
Resilience Gateway have In House Teams for conducting different types of surveys like the
Topographic surveys, Traffic surveys etc. and they have all the instruments for their surveys.
11. Some of the previous projects?
Resilience Gateway done many projects in which some them are enlisted below
 Many Housing schemes like Al Makkah City Housing Project Islamabad (approved
by CDA)
 Ajwa Garden and Sufi City Projects in Punjab, Mandi Bahauddin
 Traffic Impact Assessment of more than 20 vertical projects in which it include
commercial and housing sectors.
12. What are the pros and cons of a Team work?

Pros
According to the CEO point of view about team work, is that with the help of a better team
employee can share their workload share, they can create Innovation by consulting with each
other, the can manage their time by sharing their work. If there is any problem arouse with
the help of team work they can solve their problem through brainstorming and generating
different ideas. Team work build professional relationship and they can increased their
learning. Team work can bear pressure, it make their communication strong and they
perfume multitasking in a team. Last but not the least with the help of team they can know
their abilities and get to know who can lead their team better.

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Cons
Difference in opinion can create conflict
13. Different pipe lines project of your firm?
Pipe line project of Resilience Gateway is Traffic Impact Assessment and different Clients
Projects.

Services Resilience Gateway Offer

Master Planning
Planning Team has an ample experience of providing problem solving advice to a wide
range of clients from private landowners, to national private and public institutions.

Urban Design
Our Urban Design Team is equipped with vast and diverse knowledge with an ample
experience of landscape architecture consultancy.

Traffic Impact Assessment

Resilience Gateway Pvt. Ltd has been commissioned to conduct Traffic Impact Assessment
of various projects in different parts of the Country.

EIA Services
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has become a critical aspect of most large-scale
planning applications and is considered as an integral.

Topographical Survey
Our specialist team of Chartered Building Surveyors has the skills, expertise & experience to
advice on and manages all aspects of the property.

GIS Services
Resilience Gateway focuses and shows full commitment on providing an affordable GIS
solution to city and state government agencies.

WEB Development
Web development is everything involved in the creation of a website. Typically it refers to
the coding and programming side of web site production as opposed to the web design side.

Project Management
Our Project Management Team provides construction consultancy services from the
inception of a project, through feasibility stages and funding advice.

Quantity Surveying Services

Resilience Gateway provides cost management and quantity surveying (QS) services on a
vast range of construction projects, including buildings.

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Disaster Management
We look at disaster situations from an alternative perspective wherein disasters unlike
natural hazards are seen as human-made events.

Construction Supervision
Construction supervision from Resilience Gateway helping you to complete your project on
time and within the budget while meeting all relevant regulatory.

Infrastructure Design
Our Professional Experts Team provides services in Infrastructure designs. Site Surveys,
Geometric Road Design, Water Supply System Design.

Learning Outcomes
Form this task we will learn about the working procedure of a private firm that how it works
and how its help in any planning project to make it sustainable and efficient. A fundamental
goal of a town planning firm service is to achieve sustainability. When it comes to deciding
whether or not to build on a piece of land, this entails balancing many social, environmental,
and economic problems. A Planning consultants/Firms do not create structures; instead, they
advise on how and where they should be erected, what they should be used for, and how
they should blend in with the surrounding environment. The role and responsibilities of a
planning firm might vary depending on the needs of the client, however, the following are
the most common tasks:
 Providing advice and support on issues concerning planning, development, and
environmental issues for building and renovation projects,
 A Planning Firm can handle and finish planning applications, which are frequently
complex, time-consuming, and difficult to understand.
 The scope of assistance can range from providing early guidance on how to approach
planning to be engaged in all phases of the design and construction process.
 Conducting a study into the development’s town planning viability, which will
involve a survey of the surrounding area, a review of local plans, and an assessment
of the existing situation in terms of other developments or planning applications in
the region.
 Working with and choosing design professionals to prepare the development and
design briefs, which will be submitted as part of the planning application.
 Investigating and evaluating the project’s potential effects on the community. As
needed, conducting assessments on drainage, wildlife, and arboriculture, for
example.
 Large projects will frequently need the creation of Local Plan representations or
public exhibits of the plans, both of which must be organized and maintained by the
town planning consultant.
 Submission of planning applications, monitoring their progress, and offering advice
and assistance when the relevant Planning Authority requests clarification.
A private town planning firm can assist you from the beginning of your development project
providing advice, liaising with other consultants, assessing your application against the
relevant state and local policies and preparing your planning permit application for Council

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lodgment. Whether you are a regular property developer or it is your first time developing,
seeking the advice and services of a town planning firm could save your both money and
time.  Gaining the advice of a town planner during the pre-application stage of your project
is an important step in ensuring the success of your project and will assist you to determine
if your project is feasible.
If there are foreseeable obstacles with your project, a planning firm will be able to highlight
these to prevent you from submitting a proposal that may not be favorable for approval.
Planning firm are equipped with the relevant background knowledge and understanding of
the local government requirements and therefore will be able to advise you on the changes
before an application is lodged to Council to ensure you avoid unnecessary hurdles.

Conclusion
In this session with Taimoor Abbasi, we get to know about many things related to town
planning. Town planners in particular, play a very significant role in developing strategies
and designing the communities in which we live, work and play. Town planners’ specialized
knowledge aims to improve our quality of life and create vibrant communities through
innovative town planning. Urban planning is essentially land use planning mainly for public
purposes such as roads, water supply, sewerage, graveyards, open spaces etc. Although
urban planning is a recent engineering discipline, we, however, do find in the ancient history
some excellent examples of proper planning to house growing population. We got to know
about developing a firm. The finances do we need to start a firm. We got to know about
urban laws and policies. Also, the things which are important for a fresh graduate planner
during his job are that they needs to learn how to do report writing, should be know basic
GIS. Also, presentation skill is an important part of their career. From Mr. Taimoor Abbasi
we got to know about their past projects that he has discussed Ajwa Garden and Sufi City
Projects in Punjab, Mandi Bahauddin Interviewing with him has been a great opportunity for
us.

References
Ahmed Construction Company. (2020). Retrieved from acco.com.pk:
https://acco.com.pk/housing-societies-development-company-in-pakistan/#:~:text=A
%20private%20town%20planning%20consultant,permit%20application%20for
%20Council%20lodgment.
Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners. (1983). Retrieved from pcatp.org:
https://www.pcatp.org.pk/document/PCATP%20Hand%20Book.pdf
PCATP BYE LAWS LICENSING OF FIRMS. (2020, 12 19). Retrieved from pcatp.org.pk:
https://www.pcatp.org.pk/document/PCATP%20AMENDED%20BYE_LAWS

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 %202018%20PART%20-%20XVI%20LICENSING%20OF%20FIRMS.pdf
Research Gate. (2019, 11). Retrieved from researchgate.net:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337306910_MODERN_PLANNING_IN_
PAKISTAN_AND_ABROAD_INTRODUCTION
Resilience Gateway. (2020). Retrieved from resiliencegateway.pk:
https://resiliencegateway.pk/projects/

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