Govt orders relocation of Shalimar Town office

The meeting also reviews safety measures for labourers working at the OLMT site

LAHORE: The new office of Shalimar Town will be constructed in China Scheme as old premises has been acquired for the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT).

Speaking to the participants of the project’s weekly progress review meeting on Wednesday, OLMT Steering Committee Chairman Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan disclosed that the government had given approval to construct new office building of the Shalimar Town in Gujjarpura, China Scheme.



He directed contractors and sub-contractors of the metro train to provide complete safety gears, including helmets, gloves, long boots, jackets, belts and other safety equipment, to all the workers deployed at the project site. He also sought a detailed report from project directors concerned and said safety of labourers was a prime priority as no compromise could be made on human lives in the name of speedy execution of work.

Ahmad also directed officials of the Punjab Safe City Authority for making different teams of their department to work in close liaison with each other.

“Roads dug for laying cable for security cameras and other networks must be backfilled at the earliest to avoid public inconvenience,” he underlined.

The participants of the meeting were informed that so far 72% of the civil work on the metro train had been completed. Progress on package-I from Dera Gujjaran, GT Road to Chouburji was 85.7%, on package-II from Choburji to Ali Town was 53%, on Depot near Dera Gujran was 77% while on Stabling Yard near Ali Town it was 73.5%.

Orange Line moving along: 5 stations to be handed to contractors

It was revealed that grey structure of all the 11 elevated stations along package-I and five stations along package-II of the project had been handed over to China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) for electrical and mechanical works. Grey structure of another five stations would be handed over to Chinese contractor for this purpose by the end of current month while the remaining three stations would be handed over by August 14.

Ahmad said five sets of train, each comprising of five cars, had so far been manufactured in China for the OLMT project would soon be shipped to Pakistan. Arrangements for parking these coaches were being finalised at Depot near Dera Gujjran by laying a two kilometres long track for this purpose. Earlier, the meeting offered Fatiha for the souls of martyrs who sacrificed their live in a suicide attack on Ferozpur Road.

 

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