LAHORE, May 24: The Baab-i-Pakistan project has been handed over to army’s engineering corps for execution, Dawnlearnt here on Tuesday. According to sources in the Punjab government, the project will exceed Rs1 billion and it will be executed by the army under directions from Islamabad.

They said after the construction of a monument, a library and a theme park, the project would be handed over to the Punjab government, they added.

They said the transfer of the execution of the project would be formalized in near future. Army would be given Rs35 million seed money of the project and the rest of the funds would be provided by the federal government, they claimed.

“The Baab-i-Pakistan and its land belong to a trust whose ownership cannot be shifted to anyone,” they said.

The project was conceived by the late Mr Ghulam Haider Wyne, the then Punjab chief minister, in June 1992. He wanted to build a national monument at Walton’s 75-acre of land to pay homage to the people who had camped here after migrating from India at the time of the creation of Pakistan.

Walton had housed the first and the largest refugee camp where the late Mr Wyne, then a minor, had also taken refuge along with hundreds of others who had reached there after leaving their homes and hearts in East Punjab.

Punjab had given Rs95 million and Balochistan Rs2.5 million as the seed money which was invested in the National Savings Certificates and Special Savings Scheme. The seed money is now Rs350 million.

The project could not be launched for over a decade because of the occupation of a major portion of its land by the army, Boy Scouts Association and education department. A katchi abadi over 2.4 acres of land was another problem.

Finally, Governor Khalid Maqbool went to the site three years ago and resolved the issues pertaining to the project land.