LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has decided to get the Lahore Division Mater Plan-2050 reviewed by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – a renowned Swiss non-government organisation and the Urban Unit of the Punjab Planning and Development Department.

The review will be conducted soon after the LDA gets certified copies of the Lahore High Court’s detailed judgment under which the implementation of the plan was suspended in January, 2023.

The LDA has also directed the officers concerned of its metropolitan wing to only entertain the applications seeking approval of new housing schemes or land subdivisions under the Master Plan-2016, Dawn has learnt.

“In its short order on Jan 10, 2023, the LHC had suspended enforcement of the new master plan-2050 approved by the LDA’s governing body in a meeting presided over by the then chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. The LHC, during hearing was also of the view that the plan should have been shared with some independent experts or entities for consultation before being approved by the LDA’s governing body. The court, besides suspending the plan with a direction to not implement it, also sought its reviwe by the WWF and the Urban Unit, keeping in view the growing urban issues in the Punjab capital,” a senior LDA official explained while talking to Dawn on Friday.

“We are ready to do so, as the authorities concerned have directed us to follow the court order. But the court is yet to issue the detailed judgment. And as soon as we get it, we will engage WWF and the Urban Unit in this regard,” the official requesting anonymity added.

The official said that following the court orders, the LDA is entertaining only those applications seeking approval of housing schemes and land subdivisions under the Master Plan 2016.

To another question, he said since the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has also launched a thorough probe into the plan involving ex-CM Elahi and others associated with him in it, the LDA has handed over the relevant record to the bureau officers.

“We are also ready to face inquiry if called by the NAB. We will cooperate with the inquiry officers and satisfy them,” he added.

The court, while suspending operation of Lahore’s Master Plan 2050 observed in January this year, said the random and aimless development projects of the government had made it difficult for the citizens to breathe. It also termed such projects a threat to the economy of the country.

The court suspended the plan’s operation after being told in a petition that the approval of the plan by LDA was clearly a “managed affair” and designed to extend undue benefits to the land mafia and land developers. The petition alleged that the LDA miserably failed to consider the devastating impact the plan was likely to have on the already deteriorated environment of Lahore. It also said the Master Plan, which was to define how Lahore division would look like in the coming years, had actually left the people of the city at the whims of land developers, pointing out that the plan envisaged reduction in the green area despite Lahore’s worsening air quality index (AQI) that deteriorated by 10.7 per cent each year, causing pulmonary diseases among its population and burdening the health facilities.

A couple of days before the LHC hearing and order, an LDA team, led by the then director general Aamir Ahmad Khan, had also held a press conference on January 20 and claimed to have added 33,000 undeveloped acres of brown areas (the land allocated/notified for housing projects) into the green areas in the Lahore Master Plan-2050. According to the team, on the north side of Lahore (Kala Shah Kaku and Muridke sides in Sheikhupura district), the master plan team had taken 27,000 acres out of the undeveloped brown areas and declared them as green ones for agricultural use. Similarly, another 6,000 acres were also taken out of the brown areas along the Bambawala-Ravi-Bedian (BRB) Canal and marked them as green area or the National Strategic Policies in the master plan. The team had also claimed that the area (around 20,000 acres) which had been turned into brown was, in fact, already declared as brown in Master Plan 2004. However, in 2016, it was again declared green.

Meanwhile, many acres were converted into built-up areas, prompting many people to approach the court over the declaration of brown areas as green ones in 2004. It had also said that some other chunks of land (12,000 acres) that were never considered for brown areas, but required to be made brown keeping in view the increasing demand and growth towards south, were finally added to the brown areas for the first time in the plan 2050.

On the other hand, the NAB has launched an investigation into allegations of illegal approval of the plan on Dec 21, last year, leveled against the former chief minister. On April 11, the NAB Lahore also wrote a letter to the LDA director general, asking him to nominate a focal person, conversant with the matters related to the approval of the master plan, to assist the bureau’s combined investigation team in the analysis of the data, reports, surveys and other such documents.

Earlier, on Dec 30, last year, the new plan had come into force after the LDA notified it for the public at large. The plan envisaged a new city centre in Gulberg and contained details of the city’s future growth/expansion, settlement and plans. The master plan included a regional plan of Lahore Division, as well as master plans of major urban settlements falling within the division. It revealed that in case of the Lahore district, a northern area within district Sheikhupura has been planned to accommodate the growing population.

For the three districts of Sheikhupura, Nankana and Kasur, master plans of major urban settlements had been prepared.

It also incorporated plans and policies of three other authorities notified by the Punjab government – Walled City of Lahore Authority, Punjab Central Business Districts Development Authority and Ravi Urban Development Authority.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2023