Another urban plan in the works

Tasks, data requirements, targets shared with departments

JARANWALA:

With 11 master plans already buried in its records, the Faisalabad district is set for another planning exercise as the Punjab Local Government and Community Development Department is preparing to formulate another land use and zoning scheme.

The preparation of a new master plan is scheduled in the second phase by the National Engineering Service of Pakistan (Nespak).

In an initial meeting of the various stakeholder departments, chaired by the deputy commissioner, the responsibilities and roles as per terms of reference were reviewed in the light of the Punjab Local Governments Land Use Plan (classification, reclassification, redevelopment) Rules 2020.

The data required from different departments and local bodies, a,coordination mechanism and preparation process was discussed with a one-year target set to prepare the master plan.

However, some town planners and officials have raised questions over an allocation of Rs500 million for the preparation of master plans for all the tehsils of Punjab by the Project Management Unit under the supervision of the local government and community development department, citing the lack of effectiveness of the past exercises in this regard.

According to an official, during the past 37 years, the local governments, development authorities, and allied agencies have prepared 11 master plans and infrastructure development policies like an infrastructure plan in 1986, Master Plan 1994, Transportation Improvement Plan 1997 and Master Plan 2022 by the Faisalabad Development Authority; a city boundary study 2010, strategic development plan 2006, pre-feasibility study for urban transport and industrial waste management 2010, infrastructure industrial waste management plan 2010 (package-l), infrastructure and environment management through waste water treatment plan 2010 (package-ll) by the strategic policy unit under the city district government: water supply, sewerage and drainage master plan 2019, by Wasa; and Faisalabad Peri-Urban Structure Plan 2015, under the Punjab Cities Governance Improvement Project.

A town planner, Nadeem Khurshid, said the plan the local government department was not a master or land use plan but detailed local planning for secondary urban settlements. He said the town municipal committees capable of implementing such a policy were independent entities.

He said the peri-urban plan was valid till 2035, while the master plan of 2022 made by the FDA had been rejected by the Lahore High Court.

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The expert questioned poor implementation of the peri-urban structure plan, under which all the district departments were bound to force the developers not to build entrances to their housing colonies from main to thoroughfares, construction of road networks, seek environment impact assessment reports prior to starting big schemes, development of housing schemes on thousands of vacant pieces of land and establishment of transport stations at Sargodha Road, motorway interchange and Gattwala Road to ease traffic flow in congested areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2024.