DHA Lahore Bahria Town Map Plots Houses Buy Sell Rent Property Prices

LAHORE – The metropolis is expanding abnormally in the southward direction in a V-shape between Ferozepur Road and Multan Road, which is a serious technical defect of the master plan being executed by the government in the near future.
As per international standards, a big City should expand in a radius style, that is, more or less equally in all the four directions, and not in a V-shape like the provincial capital.
According to the sources, Lahore has not been allowed to expand on the eastern side where DHA/cantonment is located while same is the case with the growth towards District Sheikhupura, which is located on the other side of River Ravi.
The sources say in the radius expansion, population and traffic augmentation are scattered on several roads for reaching the City centre. Similarly, the offices of various government departments and other key institutions fall at equal distance for all the people living in neighbourhoods located in all the four sides. But given the ongoing irregular expansion, the traffic mess is horrible, as people have to wait at dozens of crossings for hours.
Sources confided that the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) had only V-shaped space (margin) between Ferozepur and Multan roads in order to materialise the master plan in connection with required urbanisation and industrial expansion, meaning that the factories would always remain near the residential areas, which are already swelling towards the industrial areas just like the Sundar Industrial Estate that is soon to be surrounded by the housing schemes and urbanisation in the said area.
Sources in Urban Planning Department revealed that the ratio of traffic congestion, noise, air pollution, travel time and fuel cost would further multiply in the V-shaped City mainly due to its long roads and traffic loads on signals and crossings. It is a result of focusing growth and urbanisation in the southern towards Raiwind and Thokar Niaz Beg.
Interestingly, LDA’s all housing schemes have been planned on the southern side like the Johar Town and not even a single scheme is being considered in the north or northwestern side towards Shahdra or District Sheikhupura. Sources say it is a fault of the master plan 2021 as it suggests expansion towards Raiwind without any housing scheme in the remaining three sides due to one or the other obstacle.

The City is just running in one direction and that is Raiwind and the trend will force the people to travel up to 55 km on congested roads daily for attending their offices and educational institutions located in central part of the City,” a source said, adding that the long travelling distances with vehicular noise and other forms of pollution which make poor citizens deaf and mentally sick by increasing depression and anxiety.
One such example is the Chowk Yateem Khana where noise pollution is 90 decibel and the people cannot hear or call each other without using gestures or signs to get attention, as many shopkeepers near running their businesses along the Multan Road have damaged their eardrums due to constant noise. Now they are unable to hear low frequency sound forcing others to increase their voice pitch, thus generating more noise.
In this regard, Deputy District Officer Environment Younus Zahid told The Nation that 90-decibel noise had been recorded at many crossings in the City, which was an ultimate result of lack of any planning.
“People remain on roads for longer duration while vehicles ply on the roads 24 hours as there are thousands of people who travel to Lahore High Court and The Mall daily and then return back home within a limited period”, he explained.
The DDO warned that the situation would deteriorate further in case the expansion continued in the illogical way it had been. All crossings on the busy arteries and crossings like Qurtaba Chowk, Ferozepur Road and Multan Road up to Thokar Niaz Beg, and from Chauburgi to Minar Pakistan, Lorry Adda, Data Darbar and GT Road have 80 to 90 decibel noise which is making people mentally sick.
It is very much clear that even the Ring Road and other mass transit roads along the Ferozepur Road and Multan Road will not help reduce the traffic mess if the City keeps growing in one direction, sources added.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-n…xpansion/1

Appointment of non-local chairman irks Baloch leaders Bizenjo says Balochistan package exposed

Monday, November 23, 2009
By Sajid Hussain

KARACHI: Baloch parliamentarians have protested the appointment of a non-local “junior” official as the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) chairman by the federal government “despite the presence of senior Baloch officers”.

“We have been saying this from the very beginning that the Gwadar Port is not for the Baloch people. Why a junior non-Baloch official has been made the Gwadar Port chairman by superseding senior Baloch officers?” asked Senator Hasil Bizenjo while talking to this correspondent on phone.

“The rulers are not serious in resolving the Baloch issue and the Balochistan package has been exposed after this discriminatory and unlawful appointment of the Gwadar Port chairman,” said the National Party leader.

The federal government has appointed Commodore (retired) Mohammad Azhar as the acting chairman of the Gwadar Port Authority in the absence of the chairman Aslam Hayat, who is leaving for London. A source in the Gwadar Port told The News that senior GPA officials had written a letter to the federal minister for ports and shipping, conveying their inability to work under a “junior officer”.

Senator Dr Malik Baloch, President National Party, termed the appointment a conspiracy against the Gwadar Port and the people of Balochistan. He wondered why the federal government was further alienating the people of Balochistan by such acts. “Such an unwise and biased action would only widen the trust deficit between the Baloch and the federal government,” he said.

“I can’t understand why a non-local junior official has been made the chairman despite the fact that much senior Baloch officials are serving in the authority. The port’s Director General (Finance) Ghulam Farooq Baloch and DG (Administration) Khair Mohammad Shahwani are much senior to the newly-appointed acting chairman. Why a Baloch can’t be appointed as the port’s head?” questioned Senator Ismail Buledi.

The JUI-F leader said he would raise the issue in the Senate as well as the Senate Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping of which he was a member. Meanwhile, Balochistan National Party-Awami Senator Mir Mohammad Ali Rind was also highly critical of the appointment of the new GPA chairman. “I strongly reject this appointment as discriminatory and unlawful. This should not have happened at least at a time when the federal government is making tall claims for addressing the grievances of the Baloch”. Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Ghauri was not available for comments as he is out of the country

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=209940

LAHORE: The Punjab government’s expenditure hovers around the Rs 27 billion expenditure threshold allowed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the province plans to earn around Rs 10 billion through sale of official land to cope with the financial crisis. The Punjab Privatisation Board (PPB) chairman has asked for land worth over Rs 30 billion from the provincial Board of Revenue (BoR) to be put up for sale. The move, sources said, would help the government generate revenue for post-threshold expenditures. aaj kal report

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp…009_pg7_12

* Project begun three months ago still incomplete
* Residents say mobility restricted, area full of mud and dust

By Rana Kashif

LAHORE: An excessive delay in laying sewerage pipelines after having dup up various sites is proving problematic for the residents of Alnoor Town, an adjacent locality to the Defence Housing Authority.

The area’s residents told Daily Times on Saturday that their streets had become “trenches coupled with heaps of dust” after the Walton Cantt Board started laying sewerage pipelines in the area.

Incomplete: They said the board’s works were still incomplete despite starting three months back. “The authorities concerned are not taking notice of the problems faced by the residents of the area,” they said.

Muhammad Rehan, a resident, said, “People have been unable to drive in the streets since the authorities have dug up most of the roads and have yet to put the dirt back in.”

Menace: He said that in addition to the restricted mobility, another problem was that people were being forced to inhale “a lot of dust”, adding that the airborne dust would eventually result in an increase in lung-related diseases such as asthma.

Another resident, Muhammad Javed, said two or three of the residents in the area had rented out their homes and moved to other areas.

They demanded that the authorities concerned complete the work without any further delay. Some residents expressed reservations about any further works that the authority conducted “because those works would also be delayed”. Walton Cantt Board senior engineer Abu Hanif Saadi said the works had been started after repeated requests by residents of the area, adding that almost 80 percent of the work had been completed, with the remaining 20 percent expected to be completed by the end of the year. He said the residents of the area were indeed facing problems, but the development works had been “their choice”. He said work was being done while making sure it did not damage anyone’s property, adding that in case somebody’s property was damaged, the authorities would address all concerns.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp…009_pg13_2

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Lahore Bachao Tehreek (LBT) – or the Save Lahore Movement – has decided to resort to legal proceedings against a project to widen Canal Road, Daily Times learnt after an LBT meeting on Monday.

The meeting – which was held at Nairang Art Gallery and was attended by students, members of civil society, rights activists and others – also decided to approach Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and brief him on how the project could affect the city’s outlook.

LBT Convener Imrana Tiwana briefed the meeting on the drawbacks of the project, while other participants said the project was “tantamount to wasting Rs 3.5 billion … it would also deprive citizens of their heritage and environmental assets”.

The activists said if trees were felled along the canal, it would harm citizens’ health and destroy the beauty of the city.

Imrana Tiwana said that only 8 percent of the population of the city owned cars, and the project was “aimed at facilitating only these 8 percent people … 500 acres of public land along both sides of the canal will be taken away from Lahoris”. She said the project would be an environmental disaster because of the high levels of pollution in the city.

The participants demanded that the canal be beautified by taking care of its green belts and planting more trees along the sides instead of felling them.

They said old cities’ heritage across the world was being sacrificed on the pretext of development. “Development doesn’t mean depriving people of their cultural assets,” they said.

Participants also agreed to launch a campaign at various educational institutions – including National College of Arts (NCA), LUMS and Kinnaird College – to save trees along the canal.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?pag…009_pg13_6

An accountability court on Monday awarded Rai Babar Ali Kharl, former LDA assistant estate officer, seven-year jail with Rs. 3.94 million fine and five-year jail with Rs 3.4 million fine in two references for selling LDA property through forgery and fraud.

In the first reference, Rai Babar, during his posting as the LDA estate officer, sold 15 LDA plots through forgery and fake documentation. While in the second reference, he managed to prepare bogus modified exchange deed for 24 kanals and five marlas of LDA property in the Faisal Town.

He received illegal gains of two-kanal plot as bribe as a result of bogus exchange and sold plots to different persons.

Other accused involved in the crime have already returned the looted money through plea bargain and were declared convicted by the accountability court.

The investigation into both cases was authorized by NAB against above the accused in two different complaints. Rai Babar Ali Kharl, the main accused, was arrested during investigation and the references were filed in the Accountability Court in 2007 after collection of incriminating evidence. The cases remained under trial for one and a half years which were decided on November 23.

In case of default, the convict will have to undergo three years more imprisonment.

Mother gets girl’s custody: The district and sessions court on Monday handed over a girl baby’s custody to her mother after getting her recovered from her father’s custody.

In her habeas corpus petition, Asma Bibi, a resident of Gulshan Ravi, had alleged that her husband Muhammad Ilyas had been keeping her one-year-old daughter Irha in his illegal custody for the last few days.

She stated that her husband kicked her out of his house and snatched her daughter from her.

The court through a notice directed Ilyas to produce the girl in the court. Later, Ilyas produced the girl in court where the court handed over her custody to her mother.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=210179

City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, paid a surprise visit to the under-construction Banaras flyover on Monday and had an appraisal from the city government officials, contractor and representative of the consultant firm present on the occasion.

On the occasion, he directed that there is a need to further speedup the work in view of the project importance and its utility for the citizens.

He pointed out that the city government has completed over 60 per cent of development work on the flyover and hoped that it would soon be opened for traffic.

On the special directive of the city Nazim, the work on 1.5 km long flyover was started at a cost of Rs1.15 billion to facilitate the people of Orangi and Baldia.

The 24 feet wide flyover having 8.2 meter wide space for bus rapid system stretches from Metro Cinema to Pirabad police station.The plan also incorporates the construction of a road under the flyover the design of which was improved on the desire of the local people.Kamal directed Executive District Officer (EDO) Works and Services, Rasheed Mughal, to expedite the construction of flyover to ensure its timely completion.

He pointed out that Banaras Chowk was a busy thoroughfare and the flyover was being constructed to overcome problems of traffic jam. He added that the project would have been completed much earlier, but it was delayed as its design had to be changed in public interest.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=210156