LAHORE, Sept 16: The Lahore Conservation Society has urged on City District Government of Lahore (CGDL) and the Punjab government to rehabilitate the facades of four buildings on The Mall.

Under a project, the facades of Shah Din building, Ghulam Rasool building that houses Ferozsons book store; the Bawa Dinga Singh building and Lakshmi Mansion will be revitalized.

An initial sum of Rs10 million for the project will be paid by the CGDL and the rest by the Punjab government. The basic objective of the project is to restore the beauty of these buildings by removing neon signs, billboards and other advertisement stuff.

Under the Punjab Special Premises Ordinance, there are 169 such buildings in the city where no signage or distortion is allowed.

Project architect Usman Zahid, also a lecturer at National College of Arts, told Dawn that revitalisation of these buildings would include the removal of signage, electricity and phone polls, and the checking of improper lighting. Mr Usman said that after these four buildings, work on other buildings in need of revitalisation would also be done by October.

Lahore Conservation Society Information Secretary Dr Ajaz Anwar said civil society should have been consulted before the launch of the project. He said in the past Kamran Lashari had also initiated a campaign against neon signs and other advertisements which were spoiling the beauty of buildings on The Mall.

He said the Rapid Transport Project had spoiled the beauty of Lahore as it had eaten up several trees. The Punjab government, he said, should have preferred the underground train system.