LAHORE: A private housing society has agreed to surrender its land to the Lahore Development Authority’s LDA Avenue-I scheme on Raiwind Road.

The society (Chiniot Housing Scheme) accepted the offer and would get 30 per cent of developed plots in return, according to officials.

According to proposal, the Chiniot housing society will surrender 1,555 kanals for merging it into the LDA Avenue-I housing scheme area. The LDA, in return according to an agreed formula, will give 30 percent developed plots of the total land to the society. This will enable the LDA to accommodate 613 plot holders of Avenue-1 scheme. “The decision will help resolve the 17-year-old issue,”said the official.

He said a philanthropist would bear the cost of construction of two mosques, one each in Jubilee Town and Avenue One. These mosques will be managed and maintained by the LDA. These mosques will have nothing to do with any sect.

The LDA also approved LDA land use regulations 2020 that will provide guidelines to the entrepreneur in the districts of Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib for starting new ventures in different zones with regard to use of land as per Lahore’s Master Plan. These zones included residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and other zones.

The official said the revised PC-1 worth Rs49.54 billion for the LDA City, phase one, has also been approved. This amount included Rs9.67 billion for compulsory acquisition of land required for acquiring balance patches of land in Jinnah Sector and construction of 200 feet wide Chenab Road for connecting phase one of the scheme with Ferozepur Road near Ring Road. The first PC-1 of the scheme worth Rs33.66 billion had been approved in July 2017, however, no funds could be allocated for land acquisition at that time.

“A proposal to invite expression of interest from the eligible firms for construction of 35,000 affordable housing units under the LDA City Naya Pakistan Apartments has also been approved,” the official added.

RAILWAYS: The schedule of arrival and departure of various trains has been disturbed for days at the Lahore station. According to a spokesman, on Tuesday, Pak Business Express departed one and a half hour late while Karachi Express departed 30 minutes late from its actual departure time, reads a press release.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2020