RAWALPINDI: Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) has invited the embassies of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Kuwait to develop public parks in Rawalpindi as per their plan.

The PHA in a letter to the embassies asked the embassies of the Gulf countries to choose any public park out of the 46 in Rawalpindi and develop them according to their plan.

“This initiative would help these countries project their culture and architecture to the benefit of the visitors to the parks,” acting managing director PHA Akram Soban informed Dawn on Monday.

The PHA chief expressed the hope that gulf countries would develop some parks in the garrison city adding that embassies of Turkey and China had also been thrown the same offer.

They could also establish cinema, food chain and wedding hall in the Nawaz Sharif Park as join venture with the horticulture agency, he maintained.

This is for the first time that the autonomous agency has offered its parks for foreign embassies to develop.

Officials in Rawalpindi administration told this reporter that the ruling PML-N government enjoyed good relations with the Arab counties.

Some officials said that the horticulture agency was financially sound and could develop the parks on it own adding that Rs40 million would be given to the agency as compensation for the plants that would be affected by the multi-billion Metro Bus Project.

“Why can’t the PHA portray Pakistani culture in its parks when it does not need money? The horticulture agency had been set up as full-fledged autonomous body to beautify the city,” an official in the office said.

However, Mr Soban argued that if embassy of Argentina could develop a public park in Islamabad then there was no harm if an Arab embassy offers assistance for upgrading a recreational spot in Rawalpindi.