LAHORE, June 16: Sustainable Development of Walled City of Lahore Project management has got demolished two old houses in its focus area near Delhi gate allegedly because of a lack of requisite competence and equipment, and in violation of the project guidelines and bylaws on restoration and conservation of historical buildings.

Dawn has learnt that the senior officials of the project, a mega scheme being executed by the Punjab government in collaboration with the World Bank, surprisingly ordered demolishing of the two old houses in Muhammaddi Mohallah despite being warned against doing so by the partners providing technical consultancy for the purpose.

Officials requesting anonymity told Dawn that before initiating work on the project the technical consultants had categorically told the management that their mandate was to renovate and conserve the buildings falling in the focused area according to project guidelines laid down by the government and the World Bank rather than demolishing any structure.

They said the officials were also advised to hire a team of experts having sufficient experience and equipment required to do the job.

Special equipment is used to support the foundation and structure of dilapidated and historical buildings while carrying out rehabilitation and conservation work to maintain their originality.

They said that after examining these dilapidated houses a few months back the officials concerned had informed the project Director General, Ms Naheed Rizvi and Director (Infrastructure) Mr Shahid Ali Khan Durrani, of the situation.

Ms Rizvi and Mr Durrani, however, gave a go ahead for demolition of the houses instead of taking measures for their conservation through use of required expertise and equipment, an official said.

He said the officials after getting these houses demolished neither reported the matter to the funding agency, World Bank, nor to the quarters concerned in Punjab government.

When the matter was reported to a Lahore-based head of an international trust, engaged in providing technical assistance for implementation of the project through public-private partnership with the Punjab government, it (trust) issued a letter to the project officials, including DG and the director, snubbing them for the action, he said.

In the letter, he said, the trust management asked the officials to take the project as a restoration and conservation initiative and not a reconstruction scheme. “By demolishing the houses you have not only violated bylaws and policy but also committed a clear negligence,” the official quoted the letter.

He said the trust also warned the officials against taking such actions in future while implementing the project.

The official said the demolition also caused displacement of the families living in the houses for a long time. “This action also forced the affected families to shift along with their luggage to some other place, creating panic among other residents of the area,” he said.

He said according to project guidelines the officials were supposed to create a sense of ownership among residents of the Walled City through ensuring community participation and creating awareness among them regarding the objectives of the initiative.

“But such blunders could result in failure of such projects,” the official added.

He said the DG and director were now planning to get the demolished buildings reconstructed, wondering from where they would arrange the finances for the purpose as no funds had been allocated in this regard in the project.

Another official said though the condition of the houses was really bad but even then they could be conserved had the engineers concerned shown patience and used the necessary equipment to accomplish the job. He held the project management responsible for not hiring experienced engineers to implement the initiative in letter and spirit.

An engineer working on the site admitted that demolition of the houses was a clear violation of restoration rules. “Though as per law such properties should be saved from demolition but I think the management had no option but to pull these houses down,” he said, adding he would try hard to get these buildings reconstructed in accordance with their original design.

Ms Zaiba, a member of one of the displaced families said that since demolition of her house, they were facing problems. “Our house was demolished last month and they have yet to start reconstruction work,” she deplored.Project Director Mr Durrani said, “According to a report submitted by our experienced engineers these structures might collapse anytime and there was no other option left with the project team but to demolish the houses.”

He rejected reports about non-availability of relevant equipment to deal with such a challenging task. “All engineers are well-equipped and have ability to execute the project according to its guidelines,” he claimed.

He also rejected the comments given by the site engineer regarding violation of bylaws.

He said the project team and the city district government of Lahore had identified as many as 106 old buildings which could collapse.

“We are currently planning how to maintain historical value of these buildings by launching restoration work,” Durrani added. Project DG Ms Naheed Rizvi was not available for her comments.