LAHORE: Failure to enact last year’s ordinance has forced the government to allow the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to continue work in the entire jurisdiction of the Lahore division (Lahore, Kasur, Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib) under its act amended and passed by the provincial assembly in 2013.

It has also enabled the authority to continue working on the Lahore Division Master Plan-2050, Dawn has learnt.

“Actually, after passing of the 2021 ordinance’s extended period and a lack of enactment, the government was left with no option but to allow the authority to work under the 2013 ordinance under which the LDA’s jurisdiction (building control, approval of housing schemes etc) had been expanded from Lahore city district to the entire division,” an official source told Dawn on Sunday.

“Moreover, the 2021 ordinance was difficult to be enacted by the Punjab Assembly since the ruling party has not significant majority there,” the official added.

Failure in enacting 2021 ordinance on limiting jurisdiction

According to a draft of the minutes of a recent meeting of the LDA’s governing body, the LDA (Amendment) Act 2013 (XXX of 1975) was passed by the Punjab Assembly in 2013, extending jurisdiction of the LDA to Lahore division. Afterwards, the authority performed functions of master plan, land use control and approval of private housing schemes throughout Lahore division.

The minutes draft mentions that under section 14(A)(1) of LDA Act-1975, the authority is liable to make, maintain, amend, manage, enforce and keep in its custody the master plan of the areas under its jurisdiction. Therefore, the LDA prepared amended master plan for Lahore division in 2016 and initiated the process for preparation of new master plan in 2019.

For this, an agreement with international consultants was also signed on Feb 2 last year. The agreement allowed consultants to prepare Regional Plan of Lahore division with individual master plans of major settlements / urban centres. The consultants have presented inception, assessment and indicators reports. And at present, the draft master plan of Lahore district has been prepared.

“Through promulgation of LDA ordinance 2021 (XVIII of 2021) on April 13 by the governor, the area / jurisdiction of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) was reduced from Lahore Division to Metropolitan Area of Lahore. The period of validity of the ordinance was extended for 90 days from July 12, 2021 by the Provincial Assembly on May 4, 2021. The said validity expired on October 11, 2021,” reads the minutes’ draft. “However, neither any enactment has been made nor the validity of the Ordinance has been extended,” it reveals.

The draft minutes further say that after promulgation of the ordinance, record of all private housing schemes and land use cases of areas outside the Lahore district was also transferred to relevant local governments for further processing. As the matter, according to minutes’ draft, was placed before the meeting for further guidance keeping in view the situation, the participants were unanimous to work under the 2013 amendment act.

“The authority (LDA) shall perform its functions within the area as defined in Lahore Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2013,” reads the draft.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022