LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) seems indecisive to finalise and notify the Lahore Division Master Plan-2050, as it continues to be in a state of confusion since 2023 and is yet to present it before its governing body.

Resultantly, the matters concerning urban growth, planning, approval of housing schemes, green areas and others in Lahore City district in particular, and other districts and towns in general, are being dealt under the obsolete amended Lahore Division Plan-2016 — a revised version of the Punjab Capital Master Plan 2004-2021, Dawn has learnt.

“You can say that Lahore — the second largest city of Pakistan, is being run without the latest version of its master plan for a long time, as the amended master plan-2016 is still enforced despite preparation of the 2050 plan. The plan was first challenged in the court that finally suspended its enforcement while hearing various petitions in this regard,” commented a senior official of the Punjab government. “And later, the LDA failed to handle this issue well, leaving the city of Lahore and other districts and towns at the mercy of the old plan,” the official deplored, adding that the authority even failed to get the final draft of the master plan prepared by the international consultant as desired by the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The new plan had come into force after the LDA notified it for the public at large in 2022. The plan had 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.

Division is still being governed under Lahore Division Plan-2016, a revised version of Punjab Capital Master Plan 2004-21

In it, the Lahore district would include a northern part of the Sheikhupura district to accommodate its growing population. For the three districts of Sheikhupura, Nankana and Kasur, master plans of major urban settlements had also been prepared. It also incorporated plans and policies of three other authorities, the Walled City of Lahore Authority, Punjab Central Business Districts Development Authority and Ravi Urban Development Authority.

On Oct 17, 2022, then Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi approved the plan after he got a briefing from consultants in the presence of senior LDA officials. However, later the plan was challenged in the court. The petitioners termed the approval of the Master Plan 2050 by the LDA governing body, led by the CM, a ‘clearly managed’ affair and designed to extend undue benefits to land mafia and property developers. They also claimed that the master plan would have a devastating impact on the environment. Finally, after hearing the arguments, the LHC suspended the master plan in January, 2023. While hearing the petition, the court observed that the random and aimless development projects of the government was a threat to citizen’s health and the economy of the country.

Since the National Accountability Bureau had also launched a probe, the LDA, in the light of the court orders decided in April 2023 to get the plan reviewed and okayed 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. However, the review could not be done due to unknown reasons.

When contacted, a senior official claimed that the authority, before hiring consultants for the master plan, had decided to obtain the final draft from the consultant, get it presented and approved by the governing body and notify it under the new rules. He said that the court objected to the LDA notifying the master plan after getting its draft approved by the governing body, since it was required to have the final copy of the plan before enforcing it.

He said that after the LDA failed to satisfy the court, it suspended the master plan and directed the authority to get the final plan and consult with the WWF and Urban Unit. After the court orders, the LDA shared the plan’s draft with the Urban Unit and WWF, but they also sought the final copy of the plan. In the meanwhile, the contract with the consultant had also expired and it first sought to renew the agreement before sharing the final plan. The issue was taken up with the governing body in its November, 2023 meeting, but no action was taken.

When asked why the LDA didn’t present this issue in various meetings held in 2024 and 2025, he said that there was no green signal from the government to do so. When asked why the LDA needed the government’s nod since it was an autonomous body, the officer said: “Had we insisted on this, the government would have doubted our intentions”. The official, however, claimed that the LDA administration was still trying to get this issue resolved as soon as possible.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2025