LAHORE: Over 90pc of the roads along the Package-I of the Orange Line train (from Dera Gujjran, Ring Road, to Chauburji) have been reconstructed and a major portion of the package where the civil work had been completed will be handed over to the Chinese contractor, CR-NORINCO, next month for electro-mechanical works.

This was stated by steering committee for the Orange Line project chairman Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan while talking to the media after inspecting the construction work on the 12km Package-I of the train project on Tuesday.

He claimed the civil work being executed on the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project was better than the international standards as quality and finishing of precast transoms and U-tub girders was finer than the infrastructure of the Dubai Metro Train.

Public facilitation had been given top priority during implementation of the mega project as per instructions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that’s why the roads along the Package-I had also been reconstructed quickly to ensure smooth flow of traffic, Mr Hassaan added.

He said the work order had been issued to the new contractor for completing the remaining construction of the Package-2 (from Chauburji to Ali Town).

Earlier, Hassaan took a round of the entire alignment of Package-I from Dera Gujjran near Ring Road up to Chauburji via GT Road, Nicholson Road, McLeod Road and Jain Mandir.

Meanwhile, the town planning wing of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) demolished five illegal structures.

It demolished three under-construction residential buildings, each on plot measuring one kanal in Madina View Housing Scheme besides the front boundary wall, roads and drainage system of the scheme.

The staff also demolished a house in the Venus Housing Scheme, Ferozepur Road, which was being built without the building plan approved by the LDA.

Published in Dawn December 21st, 2016