Amendments to LDA Act suggested, Source

LAHORE - Existing law for acquiring land for new housing schemes needs to be amended and a friendly mode of acquisition may be adopted on the basis of land sharing with the landholders to cope with the rising demand of housing in the provincial metropolis.

The land owners may be given compensation in the form of developed plots equal to one third of the land surrendered by them for a scheme. A high-level meeting to review amendments in LDA Act 1975 recommended this on Saturday. The meeting was participated by Senator Pervaiz Rasheed, MNA Khawaja Saad Rafique, Commissioner Lahore Division Jawad Rafiq Malik, District Coordination Officer Noor-ul-Amin Mengal, Director General Lahore Development Authority Ahad  Cheema, Additional Director General (Housing) Irfan Bhatti, Chief Metropolitan Planner Waseem Ahmed Khan and other officers concerned.

In order to tackle the incidents of fraud, delay in the execution of development work, illegal extensions of the private housing schemes and growth of unapproved schemes, the meeting suggested to change the existing laws for regulating the affairs of private housing schemes and for delegating necessary powers to LDA for taking action against developers involved in such practices.

For ensuring planned and coherent development of all the localities in the provincial metropolis as well as the nearby cities of Lahore, the meeting agreed to entrust the task for implementing the Master Plan of Lahore to one single authority, instead of different government departments.

The meeting also underlined the need for coordinated development of Lahore and its adjacent districts for providing housing and other basic facilities to the residents of these areas for curbing the trend of migration to Lahore. The meeting recommended to review the proposal for expanding the jurisdiction of Lahore Development Authority to other areas as well for this purpose.