LAHORE: In a bid to review the functionality and progress of the Ravi Urban Development Authority (Ruda) and the Lahore Central Business District Development Authority (LCBDDA), the government has constituted a high-level committee headed by the Planning and Development Board chairman.

Since both the authorities are engaged in executing the two mega schemes, the core objective behind reviewing these projects is to assess their viability, scope and any intervention (if required) on the part of the government.

“Actually these two projects were launched during the PTI-led Punjab government tenure. Therefore, the sitting PML-N government wants to scrutinise them in depth to avert any problem in future since huge investments in various sectors of these projects are involved,” an official source in the Punjab government told Dawn.

According to a notification issued by the government recently, the committee consists of 11 members including P & D Board chairman (convener), Board of Revenue member (consolidation), secretaries for law & parliamentary affairs, irrigation, local government and community development, housing, urban development and public health engineering and environment protection departments, Lahore commissioner, LDA director General, chief executive officer (urban unit) and CEO (Ruda/LCBDDA).

The Ruda and LCBDDA CEO would also act as secretary of the committee. Under the detailed Terms of Reference (ToRs), the committee has been assigned to review master plans of Ruda and LCBDDA and its compatibility with the master plan of LDA made for Lahore District.

It will also identify gaps and weaknesses in the projects designs, both on structural / physical and financial side (if any) and suggest possible options for its resolution.

The committee will also review the site selection/suitability for land acquisition and land acquisition model in the context of launched/planned projects in case of Ruda. It will review financial models of Ruda and LCBDDA and their sustainability.

The committee will also require to evaluate impact of each project (Ruda and LCBDDA) on ancillary infrastructure requirements of Lahore City including traffic, sewerage, energy, water, environment etc.

It will check the existing illegal constructions in jurisdictional areas and actions taken and any proposed mechanism for its regulations by Ruda.

The committee will be responsible to review court cases/litigation over the land acquisition and environment and its impact on the launched/planned projects by Ruda.

In case of the LCBDDA, the committee will also study the jurisdictional issues and arrangements of land/cost sharing with Civil Aviation Authority, Walton cantonment board and Bab-e-Pakistan Foundation.

“The committee shall submit its report along with a way forward/recommendations on the above TORs to the chief secretary within three weeks,” reads the notification.

It may be mentioned that in August 2020, the then prime minister Imran Khan had laid the foundation stone of the Ravi project. Its urban design consists of three phases; Phase-I is spread over around 45,000 acres, Phase-II over around 34,000 acres and Phase-III 24,000 acres. Twelve cities have been proposed in phases and these are medical city, residential city, government and finance city, innovation city, knowledge city, mix use, sports city, tourism and entertainment, Eco city, commercial, urban farms and downtown.

As far as the LCBDDA is concerned, Imran Khan had on Feb 26, 2021 laid the foundation stone for the central business district at the Walton Airport site, claiming that the project would help the government generate funds to pay off foreign loans. He had called it an out-of-the-box initiative to create wealth, overcome fiscal as well as current account deficit and sustain the country’s economy, saying that the economic hub would lead to the construction of many high-rises in Gulberg and Ferozepur Road areas. The total land demarcated for the district consists of various chunks of land measuring 278 acres while 122 acres out of the total land are situated along the Ferozepur Road. The remaining pieces of land are in the jurisdiction of Walton Airport and the Bab-e-Pakistan (Walton Road). All the 278 acres fall under the CBDDA’s controlled area.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2022