LDA starts record computerisation

LAHORE

Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has started a project at an estimated cost of Rs 300 million for establishing an integrated system for overall computerisation of LDA’s functioning and record, including scanning and digitisation of files of more than 80,000 plots in its own housing schemes.

Officials said LDA Director General Zahid Akhtar Zaman informed this while briefing a group of 26 participants of 20th Senior Management Course at National Institute of Management, Karachi, who visited LDA Office here on Thursday.

The LDA director general said that record of Gulberg, Johar Town and LDA Avenue I Scheme was being computerised in the first phase under this project. All the relevant documents from Revenue Department and other offices will be integrated at one place for ensuring quick disposal of transfer cases and elimination of elements of fraud, he added.

He said that land audit of different housing schemes of LDA was also underway. As many as 80 plots of different size worth billions, situated in five blocks of Johar Town had so far been discovered for which no record of private ownership was available. After fulfilling legal requirements, LDA will auction these plots and the amount will be spent on development projects, he said. He said that LDA had planned to execute project for widening of Canal Road, including construction of a one kilometre long under pass at Choubacha Phattak at a cost of Rs 5 billion, within a period of four months only. Expeditious execution of development projects in the city in recent years by LDA was a precedent to be followed by other departments, he observed.

The LDA DG said  that in order to eliminate the risk of bogus transfers and to protect the rights of buyers, LDA had made it compulsory for the plot owners to get no-objection certificates (NOC) from the authority before the execution of any transaction.

In the past, power of attorney has been main cause of fraudulent and bogus transfers. Transfer of plot by GPA has been prohibited in newly developed housing schemes i.e LDA Avenue-I and LDA City, he added.

To safeguard the proprietary rights of owners and to control incidents of forgery and sale of plots on fake transfer letters, LDA has started issuance of Security Feature Documents, he said. In order to upgrade the level of public service being extended at LDA's One Window Cell, various standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been simplified and timelines rationalised for disposal of citizens' applications.

Bus sheds: Lahore Transport Company Thursday inaugurated nine newly-constructed bus sheds to facilitate the commuters residing in the areas near Bedian Road.

The newly-built bus sheds are constructed in the constituency of NA-129 which were built on the overwhelming demand of the public. These new bus sheds were constructed on 18km long Bedian Road while before inaugurating these bus shelters LTC recently constructed six bus sheds on Hadyara Road as well.  On this occasion, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab Talha Burki and Rana Mubashar Iqbal from NA-129 were present in the inaugural ceremony.