CDGL approves 500 building plans sidestepping TEPA

CDGL has approves approx 500 building plans without referring them to the Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency.

LAHORE: The City District Government Lahore (CDGL) has approved approximately 500 building plans without referring them to the Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA).

A TEPA official told The Express Tribune that the TEPA examines the building plans submitted by the CDGL and the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in terms of their effect on commercial activity, traffic and road networks. “The TEPA bases its decisions in line with the City Master Plan 2020 so as to avoid conflicts in future plans,” he said.

The official said that since the day CDGL had shifted approval powers of building plans from the Town Municipal Administration (TMA) to the District Coordination Officer (DCO), the TEPA was hardly consulted.  The official added that such uninformed approvals could inflict irreparable damage to smooth traffic flow and road safety.

A senior official of the LDA Town Planning Branch said that under a structural road plan, the LDA sought clearance from the TEPA before approving building plans in the areas served by it. He said that some of the plans approved by the DCO should not have beeen approved as the proposed buildings would obstruct roads likely to be constructed or broadened soon.

District Officer (DO) (Special Planning) Qamarul Islam refused to acknowledge the TEPA’s role in sanctioning building plans. “We do not have any legally binding agreement to take the TEPA on board,” he said.  He further added, “The local government and the community development department have not circulated the rules so far.”

However, the DO did say that it was conventional for the CDGL to consult the TEPA when a building plan for a 4 kanal plot was submitted on one of 20 special roads including Ferozepur Road, The Mall, Egertan Road, McLeod Road, Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, Davis Road, Jail Road, Multan Road and Allama Iqbal Road.

An official of the CDGL’s Work and Services Department said that after the PML-N government came to power in 2008, the role of city district nazim and town nazims was curtailed and Town Municipal Officers (TMOs) were empowered to approve building plans. However DCO Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta divided the city into 14 sectors and appointed DOs (enforcement and inspection) to approve building plans of 10 marla plots and retained the power to approve plans for plots measuring more than 10 marlas.

Bhutta stripped the DOs of their powers after one month and constituted a special committee headed by Executive District Officer (Works and Services) Waqar Goraiya. The committee has been tasked to approve the building plans of all residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and public utility sites in all housing schemes.

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