SIALKOT is supposed to be the export-processing hub of Pakistan. During Pervez Musharraf’s time it was decided to build a motorway from Lahore to Sialkot.
The distance was supposed to be shorter than the other routes and since it was a motorway with more lanes, you could travel faster.
Therefore, it would have been a significant reduction in the time of travel between the two cities. It would have also been a major social overhead, a major infrastructure. Traffic would have multiplied between Sialkot and Lahore and it was good for export, industrialisation and investment.
However, the Punjab government has scrapped the project and is interested in spending most of the taxpayer’s money in Lahore by building roads and bridges. Some of them were needed and are commendable but some are unnecessary and superfluous.
In total, they have drastically changed the landscape and the environment of Lahore making it look uglier. The bridge next to the Government College, Lahore, is especially ugly as it mars the beauty of this historic college.
Our institutions, history and heritage should be preserved and not systematically destroyed. See how the English have preserved the heritage and history of London. Lahore was a city of gardens and trees and now it looks like a city of bridges.
These development projects are not big social overheads like the Sialkot to Lahore motorway.
Therefore, funds should be allocated for this motorway and it should be built for the sake of Pakistan.
SALEEM SIDDIQUI Lahore
