August 30, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 16, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 29: Legal experts of the Punjab government have reportedly declared that it first requires to amend the Punjab Local Government Ordinance of 2001 to make legislation for the Punjab Historical Areas Authority aimed at developing the Walled City of Lahore.

The view is against the idea of some senior government officials who believed that the ordinance could be amended after the creation of the authority through a law.

Senior officials informed Dawn on Tuesday that the proposed law suggested functions for the authority which were the exclusive right of the local councils under the LGO of 2001.

Except for the Cantonment areas, the ordinance covered the entire province and, therefore, not a single area of any district government could be given under any authority without having it (the ordinance) amended first, they said.

They said amending the LGO 2001 was not easy as it first required an approval of the president. Those behind the authority were hopeful of getting an approval of the president for the amendment to the ordinance to launch the World Bank-funded and Aga Khan Foundation supported multi-million-rupee programme of restoring the Walled City of Lahore project.

“The legal experts have conveyed the opinion to the quarters concerned. Let us see how the authority is created,” they said.

According to the proposed law, the authority’s function will be to prepare and execute master plans, conduct urban development and renewal, take steps for poverty reduction and income generation, title land, use it and keep its record, control buildings, protect monuments and buildings of historical, architectural and cultural value, preserve and promote culture, develop and maintain parks and gardens, regulate traffic and provide civic amenities.

Organising urban relocation and resettlement, removal of hazardous trades, occupations and encroachments, promotion of tourism and sports, managing funds and preparing and executing schemes to attract investment are some other functions.

The authority can assign any of its functions to an agency of the government with the prior approval of the governing body. It will exercise power to acquire land in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. It will empower an officer to arrest a person who has committed a violation of the act.