TOBA TEK SINGH: The Faisalabad Development Authority (FDA) governing body in its meeting held on Wednesday finally approved Faisalabad Master Plan (2022-42), incorporating some proposals tabled by the parliamentarians and other stakeholders.

FDA Chairman Mian Waris Aziz presided over the meeting which was attended by MPA Firdous Rai, FDA Director General Dr Muhammad Zahid Ikram, Additional Director General Abid Husain Bhatti, Wasa Managing Director Jabbar Anwar and other members.

The FDA director general briefed the meeting about details of the proposals and said the master plan draft had been made more comprehensive.

Chief Executive Officer Osmani and Company Dr Rafeh Ahmed Siddiqi and technical expert Ayub Tariq apprised the meeting about the salient features and contents of the master plan.

The FDA chairman said the draft of the master plan had been finalised after holding a series of meetings with parliamentarians and other stakeholders for consultation and useful proposals had been added [in the draft] and map for its further authentication. After elaborate discussions and deliberations, the meeting approved the final draft of the master plan unanimously.

The FDA director general claimed that it would be a historic document for advanced and organised future planning of the city. He informed that the working on preparing draft of master plan had been started in 2017 and consultancy was hired from Osmani and Company. The draft of the plan has been finalised in five years by utilising all technical and administrative efforts with the support of allied departments.

He said the contents of the master plan draft had been shared and discussed on all forums to make it more transparent and comprehensive.

The other agenda points also came under discussion in the meeting and a decision was made to extend the date to June 30, 2023, for paying arrears of development and additional development charges by the defaulter allotees of FDA City.

The matter of approval of FDA management allowance for BPS-17 and above officers, prosperity allowance for the employment of BPS-1 to 16 was also discussed. The meeting withdrew the condition of keeping building line for the residential plot below five marla land.

The representatives of Punjab Housing and Urban Development, local government, planning and development, finance department, commissioner, deputy commissioner, Metropolitan Municipal Corporation, chief engineer FDA, directors and deputy directors attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022