LAHORE: On the direction of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a four-member delegation is set to start a three-day official tour to India on Sunday (today) to visit Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project (SRDP).

It is one of the major developmental initiatives Indian premier Narendra Modi had accomplished during his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat.

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The Pakistani delegation comprises Lahore Commissioner Rashid Mehmood Langrial, Lahore Development Authority Director-General Ahad Khan Cheema, LDA’s Strategic Policy Unit chief Moazzam Sipra and Mustafa Kamal Chaudhry, a technical expert/consultant on urban infrastructure projects.

“Since the LDA has initiated work related to feasibility of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project (RRUDP) under technical assistance of a foreign consultancy firm, the core objective of the delegation is to study the SRDP and replicate it (if viable) in Lahore,” says an official of the Punjab government.

The official said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had shown interest in the SRDP after he learnt about it and started pushing the officials to visit it at the earliest. The visit was earlier scheduled during the second week of May this year but it was postponed keeping in view the officials’ engagements in various other assignments.

“The PM during various briefings on the RRUDP held from time to time at his residence at Jati Umrah (Raiwind) in Lahore asked the officials to visit India. At a very recent meeting, he (PM) again pushed the officials to go to India immediately and visit the SRDP in Ahmadabad and brief him on the project in next meeting,” the official said.

According to a senior official of the LDA, the delegation headed by the commissioner will enter India through Wagah Border and reach Amritsar to catch a flight for New Delhi.

“At Wagah-Attari border, officials of the Pakistan High Commission will receive the delegation at 10:30am on Sunday (today). They will reach Amritsar to get a direct flight for Delhi, where they will have a night stay.” He said that on July 21, the delegation would reach Ahmadabad where the officials of Muncipal Corporation would give it a briefing on the SRDP. Later, the delegation would visit the SRDP and hold meetings with the AMC officials. They would return to Delhi on July 22 and return home the next day.

Another LDA official said the foreign consulting firm had already submitted its pre-feasibility report on the planned RRUDP to the authorities. He said since the PM desired to launch the RRUDP’s phase-1 soon and complete it within one year, the federal government had agreed to fund 50pc of the total cost of the phase-1 to the Punjab government.