Challenges for Usman Moazzam, the new DG LDA

LAHORE: Unplanned extension of Lahore, rapid and unaccounted for commercialisation, halted development works, violation and misuse of building bylaws, internal rifts are some of the major issues, which the newly-appointed Director General of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) have to face with.

Usman Moazzam, the newly-appointed LDA DG last week took charge of his seat and was welcomed by senior officers of the authority. The LDA’s Vice-Chairman SM Imran gave initial briefing to the new DG.

The provincial metropolis was expanding fast and LDA is the core agency of the Punjab government, which is executing all kind of development works in the city. Many mega projects, which were started during the previous government, are pending and Orange Line Metro Train Project is on the top. Similarly construction of about a dozen sports complexes, several road network projects, overheads and elevated expressway project are some other mega projects which are put on a halt by the present government.

Posting of junior officers on deputation on higher seats in LDA is also a hot issue, which the new DG will have to face. LDA’s officers association has already taken up this issue and recently Provincial Secretary for Housing directed LDA to demote the deputationists and post them on lower ranks but the decision is yet to be implemented in its letter and spirit.

The city is also facing a rapid growth in its commercialisation activities as new Malls and plazas are being constructed in every city locality. The new DG has to look after this issue and announce a new commercialisation policy for the city; otherwise, every residential locality of the city will eventually turn into commercial areas. The new LDA DG also has to activate the recently established enforcement team, which so far had done nothing in enforcing LDA’s building bylaws and one can witness massive violations of building bylaws across the provincial metropolis.

Unplanned establishment and expansion of residential areas and presence of industrial clusters within the residential localities have turned the beautiful city of Lahore into a jungle of people. One can easily find grave violations in building rules both in residential as well as commercial sectors across the city and no locality is an exception to such violations. Even the industrial areas are also seeing different kinds of violations in building rules and the new DG has to tackle this issue by eliminating internal corruption and black sheep. Urban development and planning has also emerged as a big challenge during the year and the provincial capital is facing the problems of unavailability of civic facilities, broken roads, scattered solid waste, encroachments, lack of public transport and other important infrastructure.

Increasing trend of encroaching public and private lands in LDA govern area, illegal road cuts, construction of temporary structures in setback areas by big builders, retail grocery stores and big plazas especially in posh localities and enforcement of LDA rules and regulations on these entities is a big task.

Residents of Lahore hoped that the new DG who is a seasoned bureaucrat would cope up with all challenges and would take every step to improve the lives of the general public.