Government plans about Housing Scheme

Government plans to ease rules for private housing schemes

Local Government and Community Development Dept mulls lowering land requirement from 160 to 100 kanals

LAHORE: The Local Government and Community Development (LGCD) Department is thinking about amending a provision in the Punjab Private Site Development Housing Schemes Rules, reducing the requirement from 160 kanals to 100 kanals for someone wanting to get a private housing scheme approved by the government, officials told Daily Times on Saturday.

The Punjab government issued the rules on 2005. Officials said the rules provided a framework to help with the development of private housing schemes, while protecting the legitimate interests of landowners, potential buyers and the public. The rules state that the development authority or scrutiny committee will examine the application before approving a private housing scheme if the documents/requirements are complete, if the width of an access road is not less than 30 feet, if the scheme is safe from the danger of flooding, if the minimum area of the scheme is not less than 160 kanals and if the land is not required or has been notified by the government for any other purpose.

Officials said the main issue with approving housing schemes was that they did not cover the required 160 kanals of land. They said, “Developers start work without considering the area requirement. They sell plots and once a lot of plots are sold, they approach town authorities to have their schemes approved. LGCD has received many such cases where the towns have asked the department to approve schemes because plots in the housing schemes had been sold and the buyers were pressing for approval.” LGCD officials had met several times over the issue and had been thinking about decreasing the 160-kanal condition, officials added.

They said complaints and suggestions from the developers of small housing schemes were numerous, as it was difficult for them to find 160 kanals of land within or close to the city. Developers started selling plots without the approval of the town administrations, saying people had invested money in the scheme, which could not be abandoned now, officials said.

Officials said, “LGCD receives an application, takes 15 days to scrutinise it, seven days to send its recommendations to the town administration, which is the final authority over the issue. If the town administration disapproves, the developers have to stop the work.”

The rules also state a developer cannot advertise or publicise in any forum, media and press, nor shall plots or houses be offered for sale in any scheme prior to its sanction. Developers are bound to advertise locality, number of residential and commercial plots, a period of completion and total land area of their housing scheme under these rules. LGCD deputy secretary Mehmoodul Hassan told Daily Time that the department had been amending existing rules and working on building by-laws to make the system more efficient.

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