The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has specific laws with regards to building and construction. This construction deals with housing schemes, multi-storey complexes, commercial areas, farmhouses etc. After providing details on the LDA bylaws for apartments and farmhouses, and the Preliminary Planning Permission for private housing schemes, this blog will talk about submitting and then subsequently getting approval for a housing society.
Submission of a housing scheme
The LDA can only entertain an application for the sanction of a housing scheme if it has been submitted within a certain period of time, and follows these rules:
The initial application for submission has to be accompanied with:
- Certified copy of National Identity Card of the sponsor
- Certified title documents such as registered sales deed, mutation, fard-e-malkiat, and all documents which can be used as proof of ownership
- Khasra plan or aks-e-shajra certified by the concerned revenue officer
- Non-encumbrance certificate to ensure that this property doesn’t have any pending dues
- Location plans approved and signed by a town planner
- Topographic survey extended to a depth of 1000 feet around the area of scheme
- Layout plan as super-imposed on khasra plan with details of residential and commercial plots, road network etc.
After this, a proper layout plan is to be devised which will ensure how the overall housing scheme is to be constructed. This extensive document for Layout Plan of Housing Scheme has to have the scale of the scheme plan set at 1:1200 to 1:2400, and a scale of location plan set at 1:4800. Like the layout of a single house, this contains an exact plan of where and what size each component of the scheme will be.
When this is done and submitted, the Authority proceeds to check the planning standards as per the requirements. These requirements are summed in the table below.
|
Land Use |
Land Subdivision |
Farm Housing Scheme |
Private Housing Scheme | |||
| Less than 40-kanal | 40-kanal to less than 100-kanal | Less than 300-kanal | 300 to 500-kanal | Above 500-kanal | ||
| Open Space | – | Min. 5% | Min. 5% | Min. 7% | Min 7% | Min 7% or above |
| Graveyard | – | – | Min. 2% | Min. 2% | Min. 2% | Min. 2% |
| Commercial | – | Max.1% | Max. 5% | Max. 5% | Max. 5% | Max. 10% |
| Public Buildings | – | Min.2% | Min. 2% | 2% to 10% | 3% to 10% | 4% to 10% |
| Size of Residential Plot | – | Max. 2-kanal | Min. 4-kanal | Max. 2-kanal | Max. 2-kanal | Max. 2-kanal |
| Internal Roads | – | Min. 30 feet | Min. 30-feet | Min. 30 feet | Min. 30 feet | Min. 30 feet |
| Site for Solid Waste Management | – | Min 5-marla | Min. 10-marla plots for 500-kanal & 10-marla for every additional 500-kanal | Min. 10-marla plots for 500-kanal and 10-marla plot for every additional 500-kanal | Min. 10-marla plots for 500-kanal and 10-marla plot for every additional 500-kanal | Min. 10-marla plots for 500-kanal and 10-marla plot for every additional 500-kanal |
| Grid Station Exclusive of Public Buildings | – | – | As per requirements of concerned department/
agency |
As per requirements of concerned department/
agency |
As per requirements of concerned department/
agency |
As per requirements of concerned department/
agency |
| Major Roads | Min. 40 feet | Min. 40 feet | Min. 40 feet up to 300-kanal and 60-feet above 300-kanal | Min. 100 feet | Min 100 feet | Min. 150 feet |
| Service Area/Society Office | – | Min. 5-marla | Min. 10-marla | Min. 10-marla | Min. 10-marla | Min. 1-kanal |
The Authority has to ensure that the following, additional requirements are also met by the Sponsor:
- Accommodation of roads in the master plan, outline development plan, structure plan, agro-ville development plan
- Location of a tube-well, overhead reservoirs, pumping and disposal stations to be required
- Location of fire hydrants on the main water line in open space
- Displaying of a guide map at an entrance and other prominent locations in a scheme and board at the corner of road
- Green strip under high-tension electricity lines
- Appropriate provision for place of worship
- Approval of design and specification of water supply, sewerage, drainage system, electricity and street light, road, solid waste management systems
- 20% of plots in a housing scheme, except in a farmhouse scheme or land sub-division, shall be reserved for low income groups
- 10% of plots should be sized between 3-5 marla
- 10% remaining to be allocated for multi-storey flats or apartments for low-cost housing.
All in all, a sponsor has to submit the following documents:
- Approved layout plan
- Location plan
- Topographic survey plan
- Land use analysis
- Soil test report from an approved laboratory
After all these are provided, a sponsor is required to start work on providing various utility services and structural arrangements in a housing scheme. These include providing services for:
- Water supply, sewerage, and drainage
- Road network
- Electricity and street light plan
- Landscape plan
- Solid waste management plan
- Gas supply charges
- Telephone Services
- Underground services for all utility connections
For each of these, the sponsor is required to engage the proper technicians for work and ensure that the design and specifications are in accordance with law, rules, master plan, and all guidelines. No formal construction for any society begins at this stage, as this is a formal and detailed report on the proposal for the housing scheme.
The approval and construction begins after all of these plans have been accepted. Details of these will be covered in the next part of these series.
If you have any queries or feedback, please comment below.
