LAHORE, March 15: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said on Monday his government would transform not only Lahore but the entire Punjab into a developed area during the next one to two years.

He was delivering a speech after breaking ground for two more underpasses beside the Jinnah and Doctors' hospitals on the Canal bank. The chief minister said Lahore would be made a tourist-friendly commercial hub.

Pervaiz Elahi said that he had constituted a task force to formulate proposals for making the Walled City starting from Masjid Wazir Khan attractive for the tourists.

Every gate of the historic city would be rehabilitated, its roads would be rebuilt and illuminated with streetlights. The provincial government would also rehabilitate, protect and beautify the Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens, which had been handed over to it by Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali on his request.

The government was also opening up Lahore for accommodating a large inflow of tourists expected in the near future. He had personally invited a multinational to build the tallest building in the country here for which it had allocated Rs1 billion.

The multinational planned to construct the building at Karachi as buildings above seven storeys could not be built here on account of the illogical height restrictions.

The Punjab government had also decided to build its own hotels at two 40-kanal plots on the Shahrah-i-Quaid-i-Azam housing the residences of the Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker. The plots would be vacated on completion of new residences for the speaker and deputy speaker in GOR in six months.

Three hotel chains were already in contact with the government for building hotels and trade centres at the two sites. In the next financial year, he said the government would take in hand the Rs14 billion Lahore Ring Road Project, remodelling of Yateem Khana Chowk on Multan Road, Kalima Chowk on Ferozepur Road, Data Sahib Chowk and Azadi Chowk on Circular Road, besides adding another lane to the canal banks and re-carpeting Samanabad roads.

The chief minister said that the government was also paying attention to the development of other parts of the province. He had visited Rahim Yar Khan for the purpose only four days back.

All the roads in Multan were being rebuilt and work on a Rs300 million underpass at the Committee Chowk in Rawalpindi was scheduled to commence next month.

Punjab Communication and Works Minister Zaheeruddin Khan said that his department had not only completed two underpasses on the canal at the Shahrah-i-Quaid-i-Azam and F.C College in record time but also saved millions of rupees against the cost estimates.

District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood said that traffic flow between the Shahrah-i-Quaid-i-Azam and the Motorway would ease after the completion of the new underpasses.

He said that upgradation of infrastructure in the provincial metropolis had become necessary in view of the construction of large number of multi-storey buildings on different roads.