ISLAMABAD: The city managers on Thursday decided to revive the abandoned Shakarparian Cultural Complex and transform it into a hub of cultural activities.

This decision was made by the CDA board, which met at the CDA headquarters with Chairman Muhammad Ali Randhawa in the chair. Besides making some other decisions, the board also decided to fully opreatioanlise the Art and Craft Village.

The cultural complex project worth Rs1.1 billion was started during the tenure of former CDA chairman Kamran Lashari. It was abandoned in 2009 after 28pc of work had been completed at the site for Rs420 million.

According to the PC-I, an auditorium, amphitheatre, piazza administration block, two cinemas, a conference hall, a seminar hall and a cafeteria along with a coffee shop would be constructed on 28.5 acres.

Civic body to fully operationalise Art and Craft Village

The CDA officials said the inordinate delay of 15 years had already occurred, and financial resources incurred on the project needed to be salvaged.

“The partially completed structure of the culture complex needs to be completed and utilised properly to safeguard public money spent on it, preferably realising the investment made in the structure thereon wherever possible,” read a document of the CDA prepared in 2017.

The document also said most of the building had been substantially completed except for the auditorium and amphitheatre.

The officials told Dawn that the unfinished building looked like a haunted structure and that the CDA had never made any effort to revive the project.

The project garnered controversy as well, and allegations of corruption led to an investigation by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Art and Craft Village

The board decided to fully operationalise the Art and Craft Village that was built around 19 years ago to showcase the work of artists, artisans, folk performers, and young talent.

The CDA had spent Rs386 million on the said project, but the facility was never put to proper use. In the past, it was partially used, but later on, all types of activities were halted. Currently, some offices of the CDA are operating in the village.

The village includes shops, an exhibition hall, a design centre, artist studios, student hostels, an amphitheatre, an open-air entertainment space, children’s play areas and parks, food centres, chai khanas, artisan hostels, and so on, but they have been lying abandoned.

The facility was developed in 2005 to promote a soft image of the country. But the CDA, in a questionable manner, outsourced the facility partially to the private sector. In 2012, the CDA revoked the agreement with the firm after pointing out “irregularities” in it.

Meanwhile, officials said that a probe by the Federal Investigation Agency and the NAB into civil work followed further delay in organising the management.

In 2014-15, the then management of CDA had also announced that they were going to make the facility operational, but it never happened.

“In the past too, the CDA announced to revive both projects...but that announcement could not be translated into reality. Let’s see what happened after today’s board meeting,” said an official of the CDA.

Meanwhile, the CDA board also approved the hiring of consultants on a G2G basis for conducting topographic surveys of CDA-acquired land.

According to CDA, this initiative aims to support the planning of various development schemes on the acquired land. The CDA had thousands of kanal of acquired land, and in many areas there are reports of encroachments on CDA’s land.

Blue Area Parking Plaza

Separately, a meeting was held in CDA to review progress on the delayed project of the Blue Area parking plaza.

The Rs1.3 billion project was started in March 2022, and it was supposed to be completed in March 2023.

But despite multiple extensions to the deadline, the project couldn’t be completed.

The CDA chairman chaired the meeting to review progress on this project, and he was informed that structural construction of the parking plaza had been completed.

The plaza will have the capacity to accommodate approximately 1,000 vehicles and includes two basements, a ground floor, and five additional floors.

The chairman was further briefed that the parking plaza would feature 64 shops, an open-air rooftop restaurant, and a café. In addition, the plaza will house a cinema.

The meeting decided to install digital and 3D SMD screens in the parking plaza. The engineering wing was tasked with completing all finishing work, including the installation of lifts and electrical systems, at the earliest.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2025