ISLAMABAD: Long delayed work on the new Balakot City project will commence next month, the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) announced on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the devastating Oct 8, 2005 earthquake that rattled different parts of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.

Under a private-public partnership, the project will open vistas of economic generation and high living standards for people of the area, Erra Chairman Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal said.

Balakot, which was the worse-hit city in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake, was to be relocated to Bakriyal for which 11,436 kanals of plain land and 4,160 kanals of forest land was acquired and handed over to the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; due to disagreement with locals over the rate of land, refusal to vacate the land and inaction to get the land vacated, work on development was halted in 2014.

Former chief justice of the country took suo moto notice of the delayed development of Bakriyal and a judicial commission was formed last year which stated that a corporate setup, similar to that of DHA should be formed for the project. The court also directed the Ministry of Finance to release Rs1 billion to Erra for the project’s construction and the authority was directed to submit a revised PC-1. However, the money has not still not been released.

Adopting an innovative approach, Mr Afzal presented the proposal for the new Balakot City as a tourist hub under a public-private partnership keeping in view current financial constraints and budgetary cuts.

With a vision to develop a modern city which aims to not only attract indigenous investment into the tourism sector, the project will also aid the local gemstone and mining industry. As many as 2,275 plots in the residential facility have been reserved for those affected by the earthquake along with 4,648 residential plots and 1,637 plots for private sale. A shopping street, earthquake museum, adventure trail, sky scrapers, golf course, schools, colleges and hospitals have also been included in the plan.

The project will start in November as work remained suspended due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2020