ON May 12, a group of experts sat down to discuss Lahore’s master plan for 2005-2021. The depressing news was that there are too many issues that need to be addressed, reducing the grand-sounding plan to a lame document in the tradition that leads cities to mayhem. But it was good to note that these experts had been invited by the government, raising expectations of change. It is never easy to reconcile various viewpoints, especially in a country where the administrative is so inseparable from the political. Quite often the boss’s word acts as law and that of the experts is deemed as impracticable. This needs to change if Lahore has to change and be preserved sensibly.

Sadly, there is no local government around at the moment to voice local aspirations. Instead, experts who were present at the May 12 consultation were worried the Lahore master plan lacked the crucial breaking up of the city into smaller, manageable units. The lack of concern for disaster-risk reduction and the existence of a large number of unplanned and/ or illegal housing societies were noted and emphasis put on preserving historical sites as and when the plan undergoes revision.

Above all, according to an apt argument, a permanent principle, distinct from a time-barred project, is what the city requires. These concerns necessitate a new plan altogether. The old one shouldn’t be too difficult to dismantle considering its ownership lies not with the current Punjab government but its oft-maligned predecessor. The consultative meeting could turn out to be the first in the process of disowning the old plan and the start of a new scheme with the Shahbaz Sharif stamp on it. Surely, Lahore needs new rules and their implementation via smaller administrative units which must be headed by local governments.