LAHORE: With only 12 weeks to go in the expiry of the officially declared deadline of Dec 25, the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project is set to miss it as even the officials don’t see early completion of the project.

“Yes, the project is delayed with authorities in no position to even announce the fresh deadline,” says an official. But he deflects the blame on legal wrangling: “Three different cases – environment, heritage and transparency – are with courts, so how can the project be completed without them being concluded. No early end to this legal battle is in sight and the OLMT project’s fate hangs in the balance.”

Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan, adviser to the chief minister on the project, is, however, optimistic: “The government has its plans ready to meet every situation in case of adverse decision. It is not expecting any adverse decision though. But still, it has plans A, B and C ready to deal with every situation. The details of these fallback plans cannot be divulged at this stage but they are ready. Rest assured that with over 80 per cent of civil works complete and only few missing links (where courts stayed construction), completion of the project should not be an issue. We are expecting a decision on the heritage issue by mid-October and prepared accordingly.”

Israr Saeed, chief engineer of the LDA, explains, “The Punjab government has met almost all directions issued by courts, be it about different NOCs issued by departments, appointment of independent consultants, the world heritage concerns and independent validation surveys of the project. The provincial government’s confidence about a positive decision stems from these acts. But having said that, Punjab is bound by the directions of courts and keeping its fingers crossed.”

The civil society is not so sure about the official claims of meeting all directions by courts or international clearance on the heritage issues. Most organisations think that the provincial government is trying to trick everyone – domestic as well as international audience.

“Its strategy has created confusion by deceiving every one,” says Maryam Husain, an activist who has been involved both with the affected people and in legal battle. “The delay in court decisions is being used to change ground realities with continued investment on the project. In the end, the argument in the court would be: out of 27 kilometres of the track, over 26 kilometres are already complete. Over Rs200 billion have been spent and most investment came from foreign funding giving the project an international and diplomatic dimension. All trains have already been imported and are rusting in the yard. All this would be done in the hope of putting pressure on courts to avoid adverse decision which would then cost the nation hundreds of billions of rupees,” she said.

“This investment serves the purpose on twin planks: getting cuts both in cash and kind. All money being spent on the project would benefit some blue-eyed ones because the project planning and execution has had massive transparency issues. The matter was taken to, and still pending in, courts. On the second plank, there have been reports of huge land grab in the garb of development project. People have been thrown out of their properties which, in no way, were connected to the project. Who has done it and why, no one knows. The cost of these properties, if converted into commercial venture, which the project itself would help convert, would also run into hundreds of billions of rupees because they all are situated on prime locations in the heart of the city. So, the project is beneficial for a few, regardless of its final fate or delay. Rather, the delay would benefit them more: additional investments would flow in, creating extra financial cushion for them,” she concludes.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2017