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| October 28, 2005 | Friday | Ramzan 23, 1426 |
Private party to develop greenbelts around Fort
LAHORE, Oct 27: The Punjab government has decided to get green belts around the Lahore Fort developed by a private party in view of the civic agencies’ alleged failure to do the job.
The verbal approval to grant the right to a private party to develop the outer spaces of the Mughal Fort had been granted and the agreement to be signed between it and the provincial government sent to the law department for whetting, officials informed Dawn on Thursday.
The party had earlier developed thoroughfares in the Defence Housing Authority and some other places and it would not charge even a penny from the government, they said.
The development would cost around Rs40 million and the party would generate the money through billboards of private business concerns, which it would install in the developed areas.
The area around the fort from the shrine of Hazrat Sher Shah Wali to the Roshnai Gate via Masti Gate and Heera Mandi’s Ali Park would itself become a park. It would have a joggers’ track and other attractions for people and entry would be free through a single entrance.
The encroachments near the shrine would be removed and a separate entrance developed for it, making it easy for the devotees to go there.
The area would be fenced to prevent drug addicts from entering it. Right now they take refuge in the long and unkempt grass allowed to be grown there because of the negligence. They use it as a safe haven where they sniff heroin away from the public eye, but making it dangerous for common people to step on their territory.
The plots, which are now dirty and strewn with garbage and debris, would be cleaned and beautified with trees and flower beds. The private company would affix small plaques there, reflecting the culture of Lahore besides placing replicas of different sections of the fort like Shish Mahal and Jehangir’s Quadrangle.
There will be a proper parking lot for the visitors to the fort, protecting the Attique Stadium which has been illegally used for parking by private people.
Officials said the billboards of the private companies would be small and they would not obstruct the view of the fort from any angle. The company would not only develop the area but also maintain it for eight years, charging nothing from the government.
They said the decision to hand over the job had been taken in view of the civic agencies’ failure to do the job despite the passage of one year.
The Punjab had taken over the control of the fort, along with the Mughal Shalamar Bagh, from the Federal Archaeology Department nearly a year ago. It involved a long struggle and resistance by the federal department and now one year had been wasted to develop facilities around the historic place.
They said several meetings had been held with the agencies, but the situation remained the same.
The development plan included the removal of the truck wheel rim market on the side of the Masti Gate but it still existed there, making it hard to go pass the street. “They are still assessing the cost of shifting the market to some other place,” they said.
They said there would be no commercial activity in the developed area, which would not even have any canteen to eliminate the chances of turning it into a profit-making place.
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