LAHORE: Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Vice Chairman SM Imran said on Wednesday that their policy of temporary commercialization played havoc with the urban life, creating a number of civic issues in the provincial metropolis.

“The incumbent LDA is going to put an end to the policy finally,” Mr Imran said at a meeting on Wednesday.

He said the work regarding introduction of high rise buildings Act of 2019 was in progress, as those entrusted with this task would soon complete it.

“We don’t want to make Lahore a terrible city, as we desire to convert it into a comfortable town.,” he added. He said the issuance of no-objection certificate was being made easy and time bound to attract business and high rise building investors. Experts have also been engaged in the planning of city master plan, he said.

Lahore Commissioner Dr Mujtaba Paracha said the high rises had become the need of hour for Lahore because of massive population increase and rising influx of people for residential and commercial purposes. “Under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, high-rises in the cities would surely save agriculture land and green areas around and within the city,” he dded. He said that vertical expansion was necessary and horizontal expansion of city must be curbed through different strategies, change of bylaws, easing out process of NOC for construction, better traffic management and making every case process time bound etc.

Lahore Mayor Mobashar Javed said road capacity, traffic management, provision of sewerage, water, uninterrupted electricity supply and impact of socio-economic elements were big challenges to deal while planning the high rise buildings in the city.

Meanwhile, the LDA administration in a meeting warned the owners of the buildings to ensure provision of fire hydrants in their premises within a short span of time or ready to face the legal course of action.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2019