02 January 2005	Sunday	20 Ziqa'ad 1425

LAHORE, Jan 1: The City District Government has shelved the plan to set up a new general bus stand near Thokar Niazbeg on Multan Road after failure in securing the ownership and possession of the proposed piece of land.

The CDG decided to implement the plan of the defunct Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore soon after its establishment in 2001 and selected 235 kanals land of the defunct Punjab Road Transport Corporation for the purpose. It also decided to acquire 165 kanals of land adjacent to the PRTC depot for developing the stand for 4,000 buses.

The question of ownership of the PRTC land arose when the private sector entrepreneurs, interested in the development of the proposed bus stand, sought permission for securing bank loans against it. The CDG learnt that the land had been transferred to the Punjab Privatization Board along with other properties of PRTC and it would have to share the income of the proposed bus stand with the transport department. Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, however, agreed to sell the land to the CDG on the prevailing market price and provide a soft loan to it for purchase of land and development of the bus stand.

The CDG invited fresh applications for expression of interest after the provincial government agreed to transfer the land to it and pre-qualified six investors interested in the project estimated to cost Rs500 million in July. The bids for the project were also received and the DCO was approached for fixing the date for their opening.

The DCO fixed a date but postponed it due to his preoccupation with other matters. The bids, however, could not be opened even on the second date as the DCO postponed it again.

Meanwhile, police occupied the site and set up its training centre there. The DCO has now stopped fixing the dates for the opening of the bids as the CDG is unable to proceed with the execution of the plan till it settles the issue of ownership of the site and gets its possession from police.