LAHORE: The Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (Tepa) is being revamped with a broader scope of work amid the granting of certain enforcement powers related to Lahore’s repair, maintenance, removal of encroachments at parking lots, revenue generation, and other civic affairs.

The governing body of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) — Tepa’s parent authority — has also approved the proposal, Dawn has learnt. “The need to revamp Tepa arose after Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi observed that since its inception 35 years ago, Tepa was neither fully empowered nor were its human and potential revenue generation resources utilized as intended,” explained Tepa Chief Engineer Iqrar Hussain in a conversation with Dawn on Friday.

“Similarly, there was no uniform mechanism for repairing and maintaining city roads, as various organizations, including LDA, Municipal Corporation Lahore (MCL), and others (if any), continued performing these tasks under different bosses, and no single authority was present to address any issues.”

A proposal was prepared and submitted to the LDA’s governing body, which approved it accordingly.

According to a working paper approved by LDA’s governing body during a recent meeting, the caretaker chief minister desired that tasks related to maintenance and repair of all major and arterial roads in Lahore be assigned to a specialized department or agency.

The scope of maintenance and repair works will include minor traffic interventions, walkway repairs, paintwork, lane marking, installation of cat-eyes (speed reducers), fixing of curb stones, signboards, and more, as stated in the proposal.

The proposal suggests that Tepa may be utilised to carry out maintenance and repair works in LDA housing schemes, main and arterial roads. It may coordinate with the MCL to execute these works under the command of Tepa’s chief engineer. Moreover, the LDA was also requested to transfer Rs500 million into Tepa’s accounts for the execution of various maintenance and repair-related tasks.

Under the revamping plan, the proposal calls for the establishment of a development subcommittee of Tepa, to be headed by the LDA director general. It also seeks to allow Tepa to lease out the asphalt plant operation through competitive bidding, establish an M&R wing, and create new jobs in Tepa - two directors, two deputy directors, two assistant directors, and two sub-engineers. The proposal also aims to empower Tepa to restore all road cuts. It also seeks to designate Tepa as a regulatory/custodian agency for the Right of Way in all LDA-owned housing schemes. It is also mentioned that Tepa be given the task of clearing all city parking lots of any encroachments. Furthermore, it is desired to increase the fees charged by Tepa for various no-objection certificates. Similarly, the LDA has also been asked to transfer enforcement functions to Tepa to ensure parking lots remain free of encroachments. Finally, the body has approved the proposal seeking Tepa’s revamping.

“Last year, Tepa’s total income was just around Rs180 million, hardly enough to cover salaries. Now, after the approval of this proposal, we not only hope for a significant increase in our financial resources but also an improvement in the timely repair of city roads and resolution of other civic affairs, including parking and traffic-related issues,” said Mr Hussain.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2023