ISLAMABAD: A prime piece of about 10 acres of land at Ghora Gali near Murree, which once used to brew beer for the British Army, is now set to be converted into a tourist attraction site with all allied facilities.

The ‘Old Murree Brewery’ was established in 1860 and after independence it became the state land.

The Murree Improvement Trust (MIT) of the housing and physical planning department of the Punjab government, under whose jurisdiction the land now falls, is seeking to either lease out the land to private developers or develop an attractive tourist site on the basis of build and transfer (BOT) or public-private partnership (PPP).

“The government does not have enough budget to develop such a huge tourist site on its own resources; therefore, it has been decided to either lease out the proposed area to a private developer or build the site on a BOT mode or PPP basis”, said the assistant commissioner of Murree, who is secretary of MIT.

He added that the tourist site would be developed as part of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s directives for improving the infrastructure facilities in Murree.

It has been decided that the 10 acres of land or 80 kanals will be used for building food courts, cinema, parks and playgrounds along with adequate parking facilities, cottages and rest houses.

The land is situated on the main Rawalpindi-Murree-Kashmir Road, some nine kilometres from the GPO Chowk on The Mall in the hilly resort town of Murree.

The assistant commissioner said the development of the tourist site would help reduce pressure on The Mall which remains the hub of tourists.

With the provision of the additional tourist site, the Murree Improvement Trust would have scope to create more facilities and carry out improvements to beautify the road.

He said the creation of the new tourist site would not only increase the flow of tourists to Murree but would also be a big source of generating revenue for the trust to carry out more development works in Murree.

Tariq Faiz, an official of the Murree Improvement Trust, told Dawn that out of the 750 kanals from the evacuee property and, 324 kanals were allotted to the MIT. About 87 kanals have been used under the phase for the development of roads while 237 kanals now remain with the MIT. A housing scheme has also been developed and allotment completed, he said.

The MIT has asked private developers to submit their blueprints for the tourist site so that the Punjab government can take decision on the mode of developing the tourist site.

It has been learnt that a number of diplomatic missions, who used to have their summer missions in Murree hills, have abandoned their locations in view of the security situation and high costs of maintenance.

One such location was allotted to the Brazilian embassy, which is now under the control of the MIT. According to the assistant commissioner, the 4.6 acres of land will be developed for the service of tourists.

However, a plan for the project was also being prepared, he said.