LAHORE: The civil society has been asked to realise the importance and need of Orange Train and cooperate with provincial government in completion of this vital project.
The request was raised by Punjab Chief Minister’s Advisor Khawaja Ahmed Hasaan, while briefing members of civil society on Lahore Orange Line Train Project.
He said that Rs1.065 trillion project would ensure provision of modern, quality and comfortable travel facility to over 250,000 citizens daily and rid them of old and problematic intra-city transport.
Orange train project was not given in a plate, as Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif made hectic efforts to get Chinese cooperation as well as reduce the overall cost of Lahore Orange Line Train that would comb through congested and busy areas of city, Hasaan added.
Best technical expertise, he said, were being used for conservation of historical buildings along sides the route of metro train under the guidance of archaeologists and protection of these historical buildings was being ensured by every aspect. This project has been evolved after formal research keeping in view the needs of citizens of Lahore, he maintained.
He said that members of civil society and architects should keep in view the limited national resources and other difficulties and try to understand the need and importance of this public project and fully cooperate for its implementation. He assured the civil society members of maintaining consultation process in future as well, adding that they would also be consulted on other development projects of the city.
According to Chinese Prime Minister this is a gift for Pakistan and acknowledgement to the efforts of Shehbaz Sharif with regard to transparent completion of development projects in Punjab, he added.
While, the LDA Chief Engineer Israr Saeed briefed the members that project was designed in a way that minimum land has to be acquired so that a minimum number of people should affect. The train would pass underground from this area for saving historical buildings of Saint Andrews Church along with Lakshmi Building, GPO, Supreme Court Registry, Shah Chiragh, Mauj Darya Darbar and Masjid which has increased construction cost by four times.
He said the train track would not be wider and only 12 meter or 40 feet elevated, while, speed of the train would be less than 80km per hour due to which no loss would be caused to any historical building. On this occasion, the NESPAK Managing Director Amjad Ali Khan said that Lahore is situated near fault line of earthquake and a large number of complications are to be faced during designing of complete underground train track.
Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, MNA Pervaiz Malik, Spokesman Punjab government Syed Zaeem Qadri, Secretary Information Momin Agha, Secretary Archives Humayun Mazhar, Commissioner Lahore Abdullah Sumbal, DCO Capt. (retd) Muhammad Usman, prominent architect Nayyar Ali Dada, Dr. Ijaz Ahmed, Kamil Khan Mumtaz, Imrana Tiwana, Neelam Hussain, Fauzia Qureshi, Naumana Amjad, Pervaiz Qureshi and others were present on the occasion.
