LDA may halt drive against illegal commercial buildings

The authority had detected irregularities in the campaign to collect more than Rs2b from commercial concerns.

LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) is likely to halt a drive to recover commercialisation fees from businesses on MM Alam Road in Gulberg, though there are differing accounts as to the reason why.

A senior official in the LDA’s commercialisation branch told The Express Tribune that the authority had detected irregularities in the campaign to collect more than Rs2 billion from commercial concerns which have not registered or not paid their full fees.

He said LDA Director General Umer Rasool had ordered an inquiry and taken administrative action against several officials.

But an LDA recovery official said the real reason the campaign was being suspended was that it had hurt powerful people. “It is not a matter of irregularities. The LDA is backing down in the face of overwhelming pressure from business and political big guns. Recovery officials are being made scapegoats,” he said.

He said recovery officers used to receive two per cent of the total commercialisation fees recovered each year. But commercialisation was banned in 2007 and 2008. Collection came to a complete halt and the officials effectively took a pay cut.

When the latest revenue collection campaign started, the LDA divided its commercialisation branch into two, with Khawaja Muhammad Ali made director for recovery and Tariq Mehmood made director for commercialisation.

Collection increased, as the LDA took in Rs60 million in commercial fees in May, June and July, despite being short of its official strength. Chief Town Planner Waseem Ahmed Khan gained formal approval from Director General Rasool to give recovery officials two additional salaries because of their good performance.

But the LDA suspended the drive, another official said, after several buildings were destroyed or sealed on MM Alam Road on August 10.

Rasool has suspended Deputy Director for Recovery Dawood Anjum and Assistant Director Rai Jehangir, on the charge of negligence.

“They ignored court orders staying action at certain properties. And in some cases they failed to add a building plan to the LDA record,” said the commercialisation branch official. An inquiry has also been ordered.

Four record keepers of the commercialisation branch   Muhammad Sharif, Abdur Rehman, Haji Shareef and Muhammad Ashraf   and four draftsmen   Muhammad Rafiq, Nasiruddin, Aizet Ali Baig and Muhammad Riaz   have been transferred and directed to report to the administration directorate for further orders.

On August 10, the LDA demolished eight constructions and sealed seven on MM Alam Road and in other parts of Gulberg. These properties had either not registered as commercial concerns or not paid their full fees.

The LDA destroyed a restaurant being built at No 45 D-1 on a road off MM Alam Road. The LDA had not allowed commercial activity on the road, nor received a building plan for the restaurant for approval. The authority had also destroyed a structure on the same property on July 28.

The structure on property No 116-P, situated on the road from Main Market to Mini Market, was partially demolished. The LDA had approved construction of a residential building on the plot, but a commercial structure was built instead. The owner had not deposited a commercialisation fee for the plot either.

The building on property No 92-B-II Mehmood Ali Kasuri Road, was demolished because the LDA had not approved a building plan and the structure was being used for unauthorised commercial activity.

The building at property No 165-A Block P Mini Market was demolished because it was not in a commercial area and the building plan had not been approved.

The pillars and frame of a building being made at plot No 102-B-II, MM Alam Road, was partially demolished as the LDA had only approved a residential plan for the site and it is not a commercial area.

A property at No 3-A-III, Mehmood Ali Kasuri Road, was partially destroyed as it was a commercial construction on a residential site. The LDA couldn’t demolish it because the excavator wasn’t present on site. The authority also damaged the building but was unable to destroy it on July 28, for the same reason.

Buildings at 8-C-II and 4-C-II on MM Alam Road were demolished because their building plans had not been approved and they were not meant to be for commercial use.

The seven properties on MM Alam Road sealed on account of illegal commercial use were at 59-B-III, 101-B-III, 102-B-III, 124-P-III, 1-C/III, 8-C/II, I-C/II and 5-A Block-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2010.