ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan has underlined the importance of the Cadastral Mapping for eliminating encroachments and enhancing land revenues, and asked provinces to expedite legislation for stopping land-use changes and protection of green spaces.
While receiving a briefing from the Surveyor General of Pakistan Major General Shahid Pervez in a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Housing, Construction & Development held in Islamabad on Thursday to review the progress made on existing and new projects, the prime minister remarked that the Cadastral Mapping would help in the development of an authentic land record database.
The prime minister said that it would help in clearly identifying the demarcation of land and thereby eliminate illegal encroachments.
Moreover, the authentic database would also contribute towards enhancing revenues received from lands, he added.
The prime minister further said that “land-use changes need to be checked where green vegetation areas are being converted to urban projects”. He advised all the provincial and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) governments to expedite legislation to put a stop to land-use changes.
The prime minister said that the protection of green spaces and agricultural lands is essential for environmental considerations and to safeguard food security. However, construction projects would be allowed under regulations.
The NCC meeting was briefed that, under Phase-I of the mapping exercise, 90% digitization of State Lands has been completed in Punjab, 96% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 50% in Balochistan.
The Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) informed that with the help of Cadastral Maps, the CDA has started imposition of fines on encroachers and the amount collected is being used for compensation of general masses who were defrauded by illegal housing societies.
The NCC meeting was attended by Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Minister of State, Farrukh Habib, Special Assistants Dr. Shahbaz Gill and Malik Amin Aslam, Minister of Punjab Local Government Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed, MNA Aftab Siddiqui, Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing & Development Authority Lt. General (retd) Anwar Ali Haider, Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Surveyor General of Pakistan, and senior officers.
Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh and AJK; and ACS Khyber Pakhtunkhwa joined the meeting via video link.
Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan and Chief Secretary Gilgit Baltistan also joined the NCC meeting via video link.
Earlier, the prime minister also chaired a meeting to review progress on Ravi Urban Development Project & Central Business District Lahore.
Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the concerned authorities to expedite progress as these projects are very important for attracting Foreign Direct Investment in the Country.
