Urban planning: ‘Bids sought for new city planning study’

Urban Unit chief says planning for the city proposed near Lilla Interchange will be wrapped up in one-and-a-half year

LAHORE:

The provincial government has started consultation with stakeholders to study potential for various industries and businesses to grow in a new city it plans to develop near Lilla interchange along the Lahore-Islamabad motorway.

It has invited expressions of Interest (EoIs) from urban planning and engineering firms for geological, geo-technical and hydro-geological surveys at the proposed site, Urban Unit chief executive officer Nasir Javed told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

He said the consultation process and pre-feasibility studies would be completed in around one-and-half-year. He said a timeline for completion of the project would be finalised after completion of these studies.

“It is a long term project. We want to do our homework properly to avoid glitches once the project is launched,” he said.

The Urban Unit CEO said the new city would have separate media, medical, education, and industrial zones.

He said it would attract investment coming to the country under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He said the new city would be expanded over an area of 600 square kilometres. The industrial zone would be spread over a third of the area of the city, he added. He said there would be separate zones for media, public health, and education as well. He said the dry port planned for the new city would be the largest in the country.

He said consultation were underway to also set up a food processing hub at the new city.

He said the site had been carefully chosen to ensure that agriculture was not affected because of the growth of the city.

“Land at the proposed site is privately owned but it is not used for agricultural purposes,” he said.

The Urban Unit CEO said his team was studying designs of different cities across the globe to incorporate best features from all of them. He said the project had been under consideration for three to four years.

He said it had started as a plan to set up a large-scale industrial estate in the area. However, the plan had been dropped in view of the shortage of labour in neighbouring areas. Instead, he said, it was suggested to develop a new city with its own commercial and services sectors.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2015.