A single planning and development authority should be responsible for all areas in the jurisdiction of Lahore district so that it can implement the Master Plan for the city’s development, said District Coordination Officer and Lahore Development Authority Chairman Noorul Ameen Mengal on Saturday.
He was addressing a seminar to discuss revision of the Lahore Master Plan for 2021 here at the LDA Community Centre in New Muslim Town.
He said that the LDA would continue to consult with elected representatives, urban planners and other stakeholders to maintain an up-to-date assessment of the needs of the city’s people.
LDA Director General Ahad Khan Cheema said that an advisory board would be formed soon to collect and formulate practical proposals for the Master Plan.
The Master Plan would include the development of Lahore and nearby cities and not just Lahore district. He said that the LDA’s jurisdiction would be expanded or a collective forum of the district governments concerned would be established for this purpose.
MPAs Hafiz Muhammad Nauman and Saiful Mulook Khokhar and Local Government Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal also attended the seminar, along with urban planners, architects and other experts.
The speakers at the seminar said that a socio-economic survey, a land use survey and a transport survey of Lahore were needed to assess the citizens’ requirements. They said no new housing scheme should be allowed in the city till existing schemes, where thousands of plots were vacant, were filled.
They said that the Master Plan should ensure that development occurs in such a way that it minimises the damage in disasters.
They said that Lahore should be expanding eastwards and northwards across the Ravi. They said that satellite towns should be established in a radius of 75 kilometres from the city to lessen the flow of migrants to Lahore. Shuttle train service should be introduced between Lahore and nearby cities so people from these cities who worked in Lahore did not have to shift here permanently.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.
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