LDA plans Gulberg sustainable development

LAHORE:Lahore Development Authority (LDA) is going to start a sustainable development programme for Gulberg area at an estimated cost of Rs3.306 billion.

The programme was designed under the vision of the Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and will be completed in a period of six months. A working paper of LDA was approved in a recent meeting of the governing body, which stated that Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan and provincial capital of Punjab.

As one of the largest and fastest growing cities in South Asia, Lahore faces the dual challenges of accommodating rapid urbanisation while ensuring sustainable developments for its residents.

LDA has proposed sustainable cities and communities development initiative in Lahore which aims to enhance the livability, sustainability, and resilience of urban infrastructure across the City.

Accordingly, LDA has planned to execute sustainable development in Gulberg with emphasis on reducing impact of smog and other environment degradation issues faced by the City due to rapid commercialisation and construction of high-rises. The Gulberg has been reclassified in 2012 and was a major source of income in shape of land use change and approval of commercial and residential apartments and hence after that large scale construction of high rise commercial and apartment buildings have been witnessed in Gulberg.

LDA DG Tahir Farooq while talking with the scribe said that the salient features of the project included establishment of green spaces/plantation along road sides and empty spaces, pedestrian walkways, bicycle lanes, categorised recycle/waste bins, solarised streetlights, roadside wending points/carts, rainwater harvesting wells, tactile paving for disabled people, asphalt/PCC of broken streets and traffic and pedestrian road safety furniture.

He said the case was placed before LDA’s Development Working Party (DWP) in its meeting held on 5 August, 2024 and DWP of LDA recommended to place the matter before LDA’s governing body for concurrence and approval and LDA’s Governing Body approved Rs3.306 billion and allocation of funds during the FY 2024-25 from budget head ‘Sustainable Development Growth Programme in Lahore City’ so that work may be commenced after fulfilling the subsequent codal and procedural formalities. The cost of the project shall be borne by the LDA, from its own budget, and no demand for the funds shall be submitted before the Punjab government.