LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Sunday approved a special development package for Lahore that includes construction of a hospital, two overhead bridges, an underpass and 10 underground water tanks to store rainwater.

With the chief minister in the chair, the Lahore Development Authority’s governing body meeting decided to start the mega projects for providing relief to the Lahorites.

According to the plan, a state of the art 1,000-bed hospital would be established on the LDA land on Ferozepur Road near Arfa Karim Information Technology Park at a cost of Rs7 billion.

The proposed hospital will have a capacity of 400 beds in the general ward, 400 beds in cardiology and 200 beds in blood diseases wards.

The chief minister has approved a health department summary for setting up the hospital.

The LDA governing body also approved the construction of a two kilometers long overhead bridge from Naulakha Police Station to Sheranwala Gate at a cost of Rs4.5 billion. The project aimed at improving the traffic flow would offer immense relief to the walled city residents.

Similarly, a project of installing overhead bridge at Shahkam Chowk would cost Rs1.5 billion. Of the three underpasses, one will be constructed from Band Road Chowk towards Samanabad, second on Ferozepur Road near Gulab Devi Hospital and another one along with a flyover bridge at the Karim Block Market Chowk.

The LDA would also construct underground water tanks for instantly draining out the rainwater and storing it for later use at a cost of around Rs1 billion. “Neither I will have to go on the roads during rain for the inspection, nor will people have to face difficulties”, the chief minister said explaining the benefits of the project.

In the first phase, the LDA governing body approved construction of 4,000 apartments in the LDA City for the low-income segment of society at an estimated cost of Rs40 billion.

Since the government plans to build more than 35,000 apartments on 8,000 kanals of land, the chief minister directed that the LDA should send a summary to the CM’s Office within seven days and added that the PC-1 of the project be prepared and approved by December 31.

A modern bus terminal will also be constructed at Thokar Niaz Baig.

LDA DG Ahmed Aziz Tarar briefed the meeting about the projects.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2020