Civil society urged to support Metro train

Hassaan says authorities doing their best to avoid damage to historical sites

LAHORE: Adviser to Chief Minister (CM) Khwaja Ahmed Hassaan said on Friday the provincial government had put in much effort to secure China’s cooperation for the Lahore Orange Line Train project.

He was briefing a civil society forum on the project.

“We have worked hard to keep down the project’s cost,” he said. He said the Rs1.65 trillion train would be routed through busy city areas. It will serve more than 250,000 citizens.



He said the best available technical expertise had been acquired to avoid damage to historical sites along the route.

“Members of civil society and the architects [commenting on the project design] should keep in view the resource constraints we have to complete the project. They should understand the need for the metro train and cooperate with the authorities for the project’s completion,” the adviser said. He said work on other development projects would also be carried out in the light of their suggestions and proposals.

Hassaan said work on the project had been started after proper homework. “We have assigned importance to the citizens’ needs. The train will help resolve transport problems in Lahore,” he said.

Lahore Development Authority Chief Engineer Israr Saeed said the project had been designed in such a way that it should affect the least number of people.

He said the train would run underground in areas near Saint Andrew’s Church, Lakshmi Building, the GPO, the Supreme Court Registry, the Shah Chiragh and Mauj Darya shrines and the mosque.



Senator Aitezaz Ahsan, MNA Pervaiz Malik, Punjab government’s spokesman Syed Zaeem Qadri, Information Secretary Momin Agha, Archives Secretary Humayun Mazhar, Commissioner Abdullah Sumbal, DCO Muhammad Usman and architect Nayyar Ali Dada were also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2015.