LAHORE, June 1: Punjab is going to lose Rs150 million the previous government had paid to a foreign company for making IMAX Theatre equipment if it is not imported in near future.

The previous government wanted to build an IMAX Theatre in Lahore Gulberg’s Doongi Ground but the project was stopped because of litigation started soon afterwards.

Official sources informed Dawn on Sunday that the company had asked the Punjab government to shift the equipment by Dec 31, 2007, or it would impose demurrages or demand storage charges.

The equipment made exclusively for the Lahore’s IMAX , is lying with the company for the last two-and-a-half years.

The provincial government had reportedly paid Rs150 million to the company with which it had signed an agreement, for the equipment custom made especially for the Lahore IMX Theatre.

Official sources said the company had also conveyed the provincial government that it would not impose demurrages or demand storage charges provided the government assured it to purchase another IMAX Theatre for some other city.

They said the company had not shipped the equipment to Lahore because of the litigation. Since then it had been waiting for a nod from the provincial government so that it could send the equipment, they said.

“Luckily, the company is not demanding storage charges since 2006 because of the guarantee provided in the agreement,” a source said.

He said the company was asked to ship the equipment last year so that it could be installed somewhere else in the province but it refused to do so saying the apparatus was exclusively built for Lahore.

The government should select another land for the theatre in Lahore, or it will lose the money already paid for the equipment, he said.