Development planning: Building control authority proposed

LDA wants control extended from Lahore district to division.

LAHORE:

A proposal for the establishment of a building control authority to regulate construction in the city has been submitted to the Punjab government for approval.

This was revealed during a meeting at the Lahore Development Authority Plaza on Saturday that reviewed proposed amendments to the LDA Act of 1975.

LDA officials said that currently, construction activities were regulated by the LDA in some areas and the town administrations in others. Having a single building control authority would make it a more efficient and uniformly-applied process, they said.

The participants in the meeting also proposed that a regional planning authority be set up to regulate development in Sheikhpura, Lahore and Kasur, as these districts were expanding towards one another. They suggested that the LDA’s jurisdiction be enlarged from Lahore district to Lahore division. Such a move would help bring conformity in planning and prevent unguided growth.

The participants in the meeting noted that the LDA Act of 1975 had not been significantly amended since it was passed, despite the changing development needs of the city.

The meeting was chaired by Senator Pervaiz Rashid and attended by MNA Saad Rafique, MPA Hafiz Nauman, DCO Noorul Amin Mengal, LDA Vice Chairman Amir Asghar Dar, LDA DG Ahad Cheema, LDA Additional DG (Headquarters) Maryam Kiyani, Urban Unit CEO Dr Nasir Javed, LDA Chief Metropolitan Planner Waseem Ahmed Khan, representatives of the Law, Housing and Local Government departments, and legal advisors of the city government and the LDA.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2012.