Riverbed Housing Schemes: With over 240 million in population, Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. Consequently, the monsoon rains this year have proven unprecedented in terms of catastrophe and destruction. The record rainfall and flooding in KPK, Gilgit Baltistan, Punjab, and Sindh have wreaked havoc on the people in these regions, forcing displacement and killing many.
Lahore has witnessed its most devastating monsoon since 1985 as the Ravi crossed its capacity levels. This was in part due to India’s release of water but mostly because of Pakistan’s inability to avert the crisis. The lack of crisis planning, risk assessment and sustainable city planning led to urban flooding in Lahore’s residential areas, specifically those housing societies that border the Ravi river, such as the Park View Housing Scheme. This disaster was literally allowed by the authorities, as they signed the approvals for designing and building real estate projects in the sensitive areas lying near Ravi.
Riverbed Housing Schemes
Before analysing any further, it is important to understand what a riverbed and a floodplain are, since these geographical phenomena play a significant role in the absorption and carrying of floodwaters. Building on these areas leads to blocking the natural flow of water, as if one builds a wall in the path of river water.
Riverbed and Floodplain
A riverbed is the channel a river takes to flow, or simply, it is the land over which a river flows. A floodplain is a flat area of land next to a river that stretches from the riverbanks. The riverbed conditions influence the level of flooding, and building over the riverbed and floodplain results in destruction and loss of life — a problem that is worsened by poor land use planning. As per experts, including ecologists and hydrologists, natural causes like riverbed erosion and other changes due to extreme floods, and human-related factors such as failed warning systems, lack of urban planning and suitable infrastructure, lead to riverine flooding.
2025 Floods in Lahore and Private Housing Schemes
Since building in or near these riverbeds and floodplains adds to the vulnerability to flooding, Lahore’s illegal construction of residential areas in riverbeds is the primary cause of the 2025 monsoon urban floods. According to a report by Al-Jazeera, the real estate projects along the river Ravi were listed as “prone to floods” by the Irrigation Department, and still, they were approved and constructed without sufficient planning, as well as mishandling of resources.
There are neither any early warning systems in place, nor are these housing societies built with sufficient protocols. Instead, Lahore’s private housing societies, such as Park View Housing Society, have been approved in outright violation of the rules and regulations and warnings issued by the Irrigation Department.
The recent floods have incurred losses of billions of rupees for the investors in these private real estate projects embanking the Ravi. Therefore, these floods have damaged both existing and newly constructed homes. Other than that, the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA), which was constituted in 2020, covering around 46km along the river Ravi, interprets its RUDA Private Housing Scheme Rules 2021 in a manner different from the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), which follows the Private Housing Scheme Rules 2014, even though it has the same conditions as LDA. Additionally, RUDA allows housing projects in areas at risk of flooding without needing a No Objection Certificate from the Irrigation Department of Punjab, while the LDA does not approve housing societies located in areas identified by the department as prone to river flooding.
To sum it up, humans cannot compete with nature, and whenever they have tried to outsmart it by turning against it, it has always bounced back stronger, literally washing away any man-made efforts along the way. The recent floods in Lahore are similar, as the ruling elite’s incompetent interventions in the natural flow of the river Ravi have caused significant backlash, resulting in devastating losses of life and financial revenue for ordinary citizens. We urgently need to streamline sustainable practices, such as urban planning and early warning systems, to accurately assess the severity of an impending natural disaster. Most of all, the authorities and ruling elite need to set their priorities straight so that no more human lives and capital are lost.