City government working on a new master plan for Lahore

LAHORE:

The government is not satisfied with the Lahore Master Plan 2021 and has started working on a new master plan, APP reported on Tuesday.

According to the news agency, DCO Noorul Amin Mengal stated this during a meeting with a delegation of housing society owners and developers.

Mengal said a new master plan was being worked on because not enough green land had been allocated in housing societies. He sought suggestions from the developers for the new plan.

The DCO told the meeting that 12 housing societies in Nishtar Town have been established on agricultural land. He said that no schemes will be issued an NOC unless the developer submitted an undertaking to abide by all rules of the City District Government Lahore.

Khawaja Saad Rafique said it was “regrettable” that neither the government nor developers were following the master plan 2021. He warned developers against violating the plan.”No one will be allowed to build new slums in the name of low-cost housing societies,” Rafique said. He pointed out that there had been several cases where developers had “disappeared” without providing basic utilities and the government had to provide the civic amenities.

The developers complained about the district government’s ban on the purchase of land for housing societies and high fees being charged from the developers.

The DCO told the developers that the government had not banned purchase of land.

Commissioner Jawad Rafique Malik ordered that the fee being charged be reviewed and, if possible, be reduced.