LAHORE, July 10: The additional chief secretary on Sunday inaugurated the newly established vegetable and fruit market at Mauza Kaacha (near Hadiara drain along Ferozpur Road) after the City District Government Lahore formally shifted Kot Lakhpat market to the new place.

Speaking on the occasion, ACS Nadeem Hassan Asif appreciated the traders and the local administration for facilitating shifting of the Kot Lakhpat vegetable and fruit market to a new place. He directed the officials concerned to ensure availability of all necessary facilities to the business community at the new market.

“We have allotted as many as 265 shelters/shops to the traders besides providing them with various facilities at the new market that has been developed at the best site near ring road,” Lahore Commissioner Jawad Rafique Malik told Dawn.

He said he had also requested the Punjab police chief to establish a police post to ensure security and safety of traders and customers at the new place. He said the CDGL had also left sufficient space for the establishment of various bank branches to deal with cash-related matters.

Mr Malik said the government was already working on an ideal and state-of-the-art fruit and vegetable market at a piece of land adjacent to this new market in collaboration with the World Bank. “We have asked the authorities concerned to immediately complete the design process for the new market. After completion of a modern market, this will easily be shifted to the new place and the existing space will be used for parking,” he said.

Malik said the old Kot Lakhpat market was causing a great deal of inconvenience for pedestrians and motorists.