A tale of two Lahores: Punjab govt likely to split the provincial capital into two cities

LAHORE: The provincial government is close to finalising a plan to divide Lahore into two separate administrative districts, North and South, with implementation expected after the Basant season, according to officials.

The district administration has already shared the required data with the Punjab government, DAWN News reported on Sunday, citing official sources.

A senior Lahore administration official said the proposal had received approval from the highest level of the Punjab government and was now in its final stages. The official added that the creation of the two new districts was likely to take place after Basant.

According to the official, the Lahore administration has submitted comprehensive information to the provincial authorities, including details of the city’s existing 10 tehsils, population figures, government offices and administrative challenges. However, it remains unclear whether the bifurcation will be based primarily on population size or the number of tehsils. The proposed names, Lahore North and Lahore South, are nearly finalised.

Past attempts to divide Lahore into multiple districts failed to materialise due to administrative, financial, bureaucratic and political hurdles. In January 2023, the government had postponed earlier plans to restructure the city’s administrative setup.

Instead, in August 2024, the government opted to expand the number of tehsils from five to 10. The newly added tehsils included Nishtar, Wagah, Iqbal Town, Ravi and Saddar, alongside the existing tehsils of Raiwind, Model Town, Lahore Cantt, Lahore City and Shalimar.

Under the current proposal, Lahore North is expected to include Wagah, Ravi, Saddar, Shalimar, City and Cantt tehsils, while Lahore South would comprise Iqbal Town, Model Town, Raiwind and Nishtar tehsils.

The idea of dividing Lahore dates back to 2017, when a plan to split the city into four districts was proposed following rapid population growth, which had reached around 10.1 million at the time. A committee led by the then Lahore commissioner had endorsed the proposal, citing serious governance challenges posed by the city’s expanding population and urban sprawl. However, political instability later that year led to the plan being shelved.

The proposal resurfaced in 2019 with a revised suggestion to create three districts, followed by another plan in 2020 that proposed dividing Lahore into two districts. This plan was declared viable at a meeting held on December 3, 2020, recommending the creation of City and Saddar districts along with five new tehsils: Ferozewala, Thokar Niaz Baig, Kahna, Kot Abdul Malik and Harbanspura.

At the time, officials had also called for an impact assessment study to examine geographic, social and cultural implications, stressing the need to preserve Lahore’s historical character. Despite considerable groundwork, progress stalled due to a lack of political backing and administrative constraints.

The official said earlier proposals were no longer relevant, as the current plan was being pursued seriously to strengthen local governance and address mounting civic issues such as traffic congestion, parking shortages, pollution, smog and encroachments. He argued that effective administration was not possible with a single deputy commissioner overseeing Pakistan’s second-largest city, which now has an estimated population of about 25 million.