New Authority to oversee urban development
By Asim Shehzad
LAORE: The Punjab Assembly has passed draft law amendment to the Regional Planning Authority Punjab 2025 while only 26 members were present in the house during the legislation, on which the opposition walked out of the house in protest.
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The bill was presented by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman.
All the opposition amendments were rejected.
After this legislation Maryam Nawaz’s major land reform initiative in Punjab has come to light.
The Punjab government will form a new authority to organize urban and regional development in the province. The new authority will be known as the Punjab Special Planning Authority.
All district development authorities will be required to take approval from the new provincial authority before starting a development scheme.
It is said in the same district, The LDA, RODA and other development authorities are working due to which haphazard schemes are being formed.
All existing development authorities will prepare their own development plans, which the new authority will approve under the master plan.
The task of the new authority is to further improve the master plan of the districts.
The new authority will be helpful in preventing more housing schemes from being built on agricultural lands.
The authority will have the power to approve and amend land use plans, regional plans, and master plans. The authority will have the power to make new regulations for private housing schemes and environmental protection.
On the other hand, the Punjab Finance Amendment Bill 2025 has been approved. The draft law on efficient use of energy has been approved. Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan admitted in the House that the benches of ministers remain empty. Apart from one minister, no other ministers are present in the House. The Chief Minister is forced to tell Maryam Nawaz that your ministers do not come to the House at all. It is said that the ministers are busy somewhere and therefore cannot come to the House. Then when we inquired about the ministers, it was found that they are not busy anywhere.
