Lahore Development Authority
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceding |
|
| Jurisdiction |
Lahore Division Government of Punjab, Pakistan Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department |
| Headquarters | LDA Headquarters, Johar Town, Lahore |
| Minister responsible |
|
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent department | Lahore Improvement Trust |
| Website | www.lda.gop.pk |
Lahore Development Authority (LDA) is responsible for new planned development in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It also regulates and issues permits for new construction and housing projects, private houses, and commercial development. It also manages Lahore's parks and green areas.
Its website states that it plans on making Lahore "one of the thirty leading educational, cultural, commercial, industrial, and information technology centres of the world by 2020".[1]
History
The Punjab Legislative Assembly established the Lahore Development Authority under the LDA Act of 1975. It had previously been called the "Lahore Improvement Trust".
On May 9, 2013, five days after International Firefighters' Day, the LDA Plaza building in central Lahore caught fire, killing 25 people. The fire started on the seventh floor, and media coverage revealed people jumping out of the building to their death. The fire highlighted the irrelevance of fire safety regulations, considering the fact that the very agency whose responsibility it is to ensure compliance with fire safety regulation; the 35-year-old building's staircases were poorly designed and hampered rescue efforts. The fire was finally extinguished after 20 hours.[2]
Structure
It has three main wings:
- Urban Development Wing
- Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA)
- Traffic Engineering Planning Agency (TEPA)
The LDA Board of Governors is chaired by the Zila Nazim of the Lahore City District. Its members include the following:
- Director General of the Authority
- Town Nazims of all the Towns of Lahore City District
- District Coordination Officer of Lahore City District
- Representative of the Planning and Development Board Punjab not below the rank of Additional Secretary/Deputy Secretary
- Representative of the Finance Department not below the rank of Additional Secretary/Deputy Secretary
- Representative of the Housing Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department not below the rank of Additional Secretary/Deputy Secretary
- Representative of the Local Government and Rural Development Department not below the rank of Additional Secretary/Deputy Secretary
- All the Heads of the Agencies established by the Authority (M.D. WASA & M.D. TEPA)
Criticism
LDA is said to be unable to carry out its duties efficiently and effectively due to "excessive delays in plan preparation and approval process, weak institutional set-up, lack of coordination among government departments, inadequate financial resources, legal lacunas, lack of dissemination of plans, and above all lack of political will". LDA is rumoured to be one of the most corrupt land development authorities in Pakistan, plot owners in Sabzazar scheme are still not able to sell or transfer their plots, the plot owners are not even allowed to start construction of their plots.
See also
References
- ↑ "About LDA". Lahore Development Authority. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ↑ "LDA Plaza: ‘Former LDA Chief Ignored Fire Safety Suggestions’". The Express Tribune. 14 May 2013.