Heritage concerns: UNSECO committee go-ahead claimed for Metro construction

Hassaan says World Heritage Committee has approved construction in front of Shalimar Gardens


Our Correspondent July 19, 2016
When completed, it will connect Raiwind, Multan Road, McLeod Road, Lahore Junction railway station and the Grand Trunk Road. It will be the first line of the Lahore Metro, the country’s first rapid mass transit train system. PHOTO: APP

LAHORE: The government has been given a go-ahead by the World Heritage Committee (WHC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on the construction of the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT), project steering committee chairman Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan claimed on Tuesday.

“Nearly 39 per cent of civil works of the project have already been completed. The government has completed land acquisition for the project, apart from a few properties on which courts have given stay orders. Now, after the WHC approval for construction of an elevated metro train track in front of Shalimar Gardens, the world heritage site, no major hurdles are left [in the project’s construction],” he said.

To a question, Hassaan said all metro train-related petitions had been clubbed together by the Lahore High Court. “The government has also addressed concerns of the WHC. Now, I do not see any major hurdle in smooth completion of the project. The government will soon produce the WHC approval in the court,” he said.

The WHC had raised concerns over construction of metro train track in front of the Shalimar Gardens last year. A delegation of the Punjab Mass-transit Authority (PMA), the Lahore Development Authority and other stakeholders presented Pakistan’s stance in the 40th meeting of the WHC in Istanbul, Turkey, from July 10 to 17, 2016. The WHC has now asked Pakistan to submit a visual impact assessment report regarding the Shalimar Gardens.

Hassaan said Pakistan had sent all project reports, including the feasibility study, the heritage impact assessment, vibration analysis and construction methodology to the committee a few months ago and it was ready to fully cooperate with the WHC representatives.

The 27-kilometre Orange Line Metro Train project is estimated to cost $1.65 billion. It is being funded largely through a Chinese soft loan. The Punjab government has allocated Rs85 billion for the project in the budget for the current fiscal year. The project is part of the metro network in the city. When completed, it will connect Raiwind, Multan Road, McLeod Road, Lahore Junction railway station and the Grand Trunk Road. It will be the first line of the Lahore Metro, the country’s first rapid mass transit train system.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2016.

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