LAHORE: The Lahore Central Business District Development Authority (LCBDDA) has been renamed as the Punjab Central Business District Development Authority (PCBDDA) with its scope of work expanded across the province.

The authority was formed in February 2021 through an ordinance to establish a business district in Gulberg, Lahore.

According to a press release, with an expanded scope of work, the PCBDDA will work in various cities, such as Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Multan and Rawalpindi, and boost the economic activities for the development of the province.

In March, the authority in an open auction sold seven commercial plots (12 to 14 kanals) of mixed-use in Gulberg’s downtown at a record cumulative price of Rs34.9 billion. The plots, namely Lahore Downtown-One was sold for Rs6.5 billion, followed by Downtown-two for Rs5.1 billion, Downtown-three for Rs4.08 billion, Downtown-four for Rs3.6 billion, Downtown-five for Rs4.2 billion, Downtown-six for Rs5.28 billion and Downtown-seven for Rs6.14 billion.

Earlier in September 2021, the authority auctioned its five commercial plots for Rs21.588 billion after it received the highest bid price from four groups, including a Turkish real estate company. The successful bidders of the previous and Thursday’s auction intend to build high-rises on these plots in the commercial zones.

Since the favourable bylaws related to height (500+ft and FAR-Floor area ratio of 1:15) are the significance and uniqueness of this project, the authority says that its team is striving to put every effort into the success of this project

The plots auctioned in September included Prime-1 measuring 18 kanals for Rs7.623 billion (Rs424 million per kanal), Prime-2 plot measuring 11 kanals for Rs4.202 billion, Prime-3 measuring 10 kanals for Rs2.840 billion, Prime-4 and 5 measuring 10 kanals each for Rs4.069 billion and Rs2.845 billion.

On February 26, 2021, then prime minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the ambitious CBD project at the Walton Airport site, asserting that the project would help create much-needed wealth to pay off foreign loans that had accumulated over the past ‘decade of darkness’. He called the project an ‘out-of-the-box’ initiative to create wealth, overcome fiscal as well as current account deficit and sustain the country’s economy and considered it a high time to increase the country’s income and decrease expenditures to come out of the quagmire of fiscal and current account deficit.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2022