The government has made ready its plan to make 154154 urban local governments/cities of Punjab to control increasing migration of the people from small towns to big cities.
The five major cities Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Multan have not been included in the list as they already have master plans for their land use and zoning for residential, commercial, agriculture and industrial activities, Dawn has learnt.
“We have no plans for most of the cities (154 of the 159) as no one paid heed to the issue that finally caused horizontal growth there. Though the metropolises of Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, and Rawalpindi have master plans already, the realtors launched several housing projects in residential approved/unapproved areas/localities without need. Resultantly, the land cost increased but the newly developed housing schemes/projects are yet to attract settlement of the people,” said Umme Laila, the focal person for the Rs500m project, titled “Preparation of Master Plans for 149 Urban Local Governments/Cities of Punjab”, envisioned and planned by the local government and community development department to be launched during the next fiscal year (2021-22) starting from July 1 under the annual development program (ADP).
