The Local Government Plan 2000 and the Local Government Ordinance 2001 provides for the establishment of a City District Government to respond to the specific needs of the mega cities and largely urban districts of Pakistan.

The Local Government Plan 2000 envisages that large cities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Sukkur, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur will be declared City Districts in a phased manner. Initially Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta and Islamabad have been declared city districts.

In the common districts, spatial planning and municipal services are the exclusive function of the Tehsil Municipal Administration but in the City District some planning and macro-municipal functions will be managed centrally by a City District Government, in addition to all the common district functions. The nature of infrastructure and population densities in urban areas necessitates city wide planning to achieve economies of scale, rationalisation of investments, or the benefits of modern technologies among other reasons.

Like the common district, the City District will have three tiers: the City District Government (CDG), the Town Municipal Administration (TMA) and the Union Administration (UA). In recognition of the need for specific institutional arrangements to respond to the nature of integrated planning and municipal functions in City Districts, the three tiers are not analogous to the ones in the common district: in the City District, the TMA will be responsible for those functions assigned to the Tehsil Municipal Administration in the common district to the extent that these can be performed by the TMA - i.e. those functions which due to technical reasons do not require a city level management.

When setting up the City District Government and TMA, two important principles have been kept in mind:

• where technical factors allow, the principle of subsidiarity has to be used in determining which planning and municipal services/functions are assigned to the City District Government and which ones are assigned to TMA; and that
• the transition process should be smooth and no disruption or dip in services should be felt by the people.

Functions of City District Government:

The City District Government consists of Zila Nazim and District Administration. The City District Government shall be competent to acquire, hold or transfer any property, movable and immovable, to enter into contract and to sue or be sued in its name, through District Coordination Officer.

On the commencement of the Local Government Ordinance 2001, the administrative and financial authority for the management of offices of the Government specified in Part A of the First Schedule of the Ordinance set up in a district shall stand decentralised to the City District Government of that District .

In addition, on the creation of a City District, the authorities and organisations providing municipal services and facilities will come under the management of the City District.

Composition:

The City District will comprise officers, staff and assets from:

• The provincial departments decentralised to the District Government.
• The Development Authorities and agencies attached to the City District.
• Some of the officers, staff and assets from the defund Urban Local Councils (ULCs) and District Councils which will form part of the City District, in as far as they relate to the functions of the City District.

Offices of the City District

The Table below shows the offices/functions of the City District Government and their grouping under Part C and Part D of the First Schedule of the Local Government Ordinance 2001. Each of these offices of the City District Government, based on the ground situation and technical considerations, will have offices at Town level and where required at the Union level.

Groups of Offices and Offices of the City District

(Part C and Part D of the First Schedule of the Local Government Ordinance 2001)

Depending upon the economies of scale and nature of infrastructure, the City District Government may vary grouping of offices contained in Part-C of the Local Government Ordinance, 2001 and set up District Municipal Offices for integrated development and management of the following services:

• Water source development and management, storage, treatment plants, and macro-distribution.
• Tertiary and secondary sewerage network, treatment plants, and disposal.
• Storm water drainage network and disposal.
• Flood control protection and rapid response contingency plans.
• Natural disaster and civil defence planning.
• Solid waste management, treatment and disposal, including land fill sites and recycling plants.
• Industrial and hospital hazardous and toxic waste treatment and disposal.
• Environmental control, including control of air, water, and soil pollution in accordance with federal and provincial laws and standards.
• Master planning, land use, zoning and classification, reclassification.
• Urban design and urban renewal programme, promulgation of building rules and planning standards.
• Urban and Housing development, including urban improvement and upgrading, and urban renewal and redevelopment, with care being taken to preserve historical and cultural monuments.
• Regional markets and city-wide commercial centres.
• Landscape, monuments, and municipal ornamentation.
• Parks, forests, play grounds, sporting, and other recreational facilities
• Museums, art galleries, libraries, community and cultural centres.
• Conservation of historical and cultural assets.

Zila, Tehsil & Town Councils Membership for LAHORE

List of Towns in City Districts

• Ravi Town
• Shalamar Town
• Wagah Town
• Aziz Bhatti Town
• Data Gunj Bakhsh Town
• Samanabad Town
• Gulberg Town
• Iqbal Town
• Nishter Town