LAHORE, March 11: Turkish companies will help the Punjab government launch four mega civic projects in Lahore to develop the city on the pattern of Istanbul, Mayor of Istanbul Dr Kadir Topbas told reporters at a media briefing at 90-Shahra-i-Quaid-i-Azam on Sunday.

“We will strengthen our friendship with Pakistan through technically assisting the Punjab government in four projects which are: solid waste management, automated parking system, bus rapid transit (BRT) and intelligent traffic management system,” said Dr Topbas, flanked by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. These four projects are Lahore specific only.

Mr Topbas said that until 15 years ago Turkey would import equipment for its cleanliness, transport, parking and other civic systems. Later Turkish experts started manufacturing such equipments locally and saved the money.

About the BRT project, he said the system helped 700,000 people travel every day in Istanbul. The system, which Lahore will get in the coming days, will ease public transport problems.

About the intelligent traffic management, he said the system helped the management monitor and control the city traffic just through a control room. The Punjab will get benefit from the Turkish companions in the Solid Waste Management Project to keep the city clean.

“At present, Istanbul collects 15,000 tones of waste every day from the city streets. The project will be replicated in Lahore to keep it clean along Istanbul patterns,” he said. He said due to Turkish experts’ work, Istanbul had become even cleaner than New York.

He said the Muslims of sub-continent and Turkey had a history of friendship which dated back 1915 when the sub-continent Muslims helped Turkey in the 1915 war. Also, the Pakistani people and government helped their Turkish counterparts to recover from a recent earthquake in Turkey.

“The Turkish too helped Pakistan on various occasions, particularly in post-the 2005 earthquake and floods of 2010,” he said.

He said through these four projects the dream to mature the agreement signed in 1975 on Lahore-Istanbul twin cities would be accomplished.

He praised Mr Sharif for serving the people of Punjab.

“Mr Shahbaz is the right man who knows well about the miseries of the people and wants to address them through various developmental plans and projects. That is why I have come here with a 45-member delegation to talk with him to mature all the agreements with the Punjab government,” he said.

Earlier, Mr Sharif said the people of Lahore must be happy to see the sincerity of Istanbul’s mayor with the Punjab capital.

“Mr Topbas is a close associate to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is an experienced man in resolving civic issues. He is the man who developed Istanbul on the pattern of modern and most clean cities of the world. That is why I asked him to help us in developing Lahore just like Istanbul,” he said.

He said he had also asked the Turkish police to train Punjab police to maintain law and order in Punjab.

The Istanbul’s mayor and the chief minister inaugurated the modern solid waste management system at the Town Hall.

Later, the Punjab government and the Lahore City District Government also hosted a welcome dinner at Hazoori Bagh where the district coordination officer presented the key of Lahore to the mayor.