Rawalpindi Cantonment Board: Proposal for multi-storey Lansdowne Mega Mall in limbo

Biggest government level project blocked by 1924 Cantonment Act

RAWALPINDI: Plans to build a shiny new mall with a cinema on the site of the old Odeon Cinema within the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board building have been shot rejected.

The move was turned down because the Cantonment Board does not have the authority to use the building for any alternative purpose under the Cantonment Act 1924. The building had been constructed over 85 years ago by the Lansdowne Trust on 5.44 acres of land.

The trust had been formed by two local influential landlords of Rawalpindi Sardar Karpal Singh Rae Bahadur and Sardar Sujhan Singh Rae Bahadur in 1891. They had provided the funds to the Trust for the building which comprised a cinema building, known as Odeon Cinema, with ancillary apartments and a public library.



The management of the library at the time included the general officer commanding of the district, commissioner Rawalpindi division, deputy commissioner Rawalpindi district and the cantonment magistrate.

Later, the management committee transferred the trust to the then cantonment committee in the 1897 and since then, the trust is being managed by the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB).



The architects designing the building took not just its layout and lighting into consideration, but also ensured that the building was suitable for use in both summers and winters. These factors make the structure a means of great fascination even for present day architects.

Its foundation was laid by Second Infantry Commanding Brigadier W K Wenning on March 11, 1932. The trust had a legally-binding document made that stated all earnings from the cinema and park would be used to maintain and run the library.



However, the Cantonment Board had the Odeon Cinema closed down ten years ago and started using the structure as a storeroom for the anti-encroachment department. Similarly, the cantonment library was barely maintained and never upgraded according to modern standards.

The Cantonment Board recently made a study for the biggest government owned project between Rawalpindi-Islamabad where the 5.44 acres of land would be used to build a multi-story building by the name of Lansdowne Mega Mall.

Translated and edited by Haya Siddiqui

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2017.