LAHORE: The Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) has sent a summary to the chief minister, seeking approval of various recommendations for fixation of road levels, their maintenance and implementation of other recommendations to control urban flooding in the monsoon and accumulation of sewage on the roads in Lahore.

A summary, made after a survey, has been moved to Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz recently through the Housing, Urban Development & Public Health Engineering Department (HUD&PHED) and a plan has been devised to start similar surveys in the cities of Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Gujrat and other areas that suffered from the worst-ever urban flooding due to very recent heavy rains in Punjab, Dawn has learnt.

“We want implementation of this survey’s recommendations, not only in Lahore but also in other major cities that faced the worst situation due to accumulation of rain/floodwater up to 6 to 10 feet, submerging houses and other infrastructures,” said a senior official while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

According to the summary, Lahore, being the country’s second largest metropolitan city, has a vast road network that caters to a rapidly growing population and its traffic.

Varying levels of the roads constructed by different departments have emerged as a major cause of inefficient road infrastructure, leading to water ponding and drainage failures.

“The absence of a uniform road-level policy has resulted in uneven roads’ profiles where some roads are raised while adjoining streets and service lanes remain depressed. This inconsistency not only disrupts the natural flow of stormwater but also creates depressions that quickly turn into water ponds, damaging the pavements and undermining road safety,” explains the summary.

It states the problem intensifies during the monsoon when the uneven roads’ levels aggravate water-logging, disrupt daily mobility, damage adjoining properties and reduce the life of roads.

Lack of coordination among multiple government agencies has resulted in flooding, roads deterioration and public inconvenience.

“In view of these concerns, the government of Punjab directed Tepa to undertake a thorough study to assess the level of roads, greenbelts and building plinth across the city and submit practical recommendations. In compliance, Tepa conducted a comprehensive GPS-based survey of major roads of the city,” it reads.

The summary states that the level of different points was digitally captured in correspondence to the benchmarks set by the Survey of Pakistan to ensure accuracy.

The levels of carriageways, service roads, walkways, greenbelts, and building plinth were recorded along with identification of potholes, damaged manholes and ponding points and various issues were pointed out based on it.

Mentioning the issues, the summary states that there is no central agency to control the road levels, resulting in road profiles and unregulated plinth levels of abutting properties, lack of plinth level regulations, leading to extended property ramps and higher risk of water inundation and poor roads’ condition with potholes, inadequate drainage and degraded surfaces.

In the wake of the Tepa survey, the summary recommends approval for the fixation of standard road levels, road maintenance by relevant agencies, efficient utilisation of greenbelts with lowering levels than roads’ levels, laying of stormwater drainage lines etc.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2025