Dilkash Lahore: Committee to approve proposal for signboards

Proposals vary from suggested guidelines to precise rules.

LAHORE:

The Dilkash Lahore Committee is all set to consider, and approve today (Wednesday), one of three proposals prepared by a sub-committee for regulation of billboards and shop signs on The Mall.

The meeting will be presided over by Justice (retired) Khalilur Rehman Ramday.

The sub-committee, which met on Monday, will later work out the details of the proposal approved by the Dilkash Lahore committee.

The city government had served notices on all shops on The Mall at the end of November and told them to remove signs and advertisement boards and get them reinstalled after approval.

Project Architect Zahid Hussain told The Express Tribune that the decision was taken “to preserve our past and allow citizens and tourists to see the magnificent historical buildings on Mall Road” which are currently dilapidated  or “hidden” behind billboards and shop signs.

The committee is looking to regulate the display of billboards and shop signs. All proposals control the size and placement of signs.

One of the proposals suggests that The Mall be divided into four zones. They are from Alfalah Chowk to Hall Road, from Regal Chowk to High Court, from High Court to Queens Road and from Queens Road to Anarkali. The committee will suggest a different design for each zone, keeping in mind the buildings located on that stretch. “The type, format, size and placement will vary,” said the architect. Under this proposal, the committee will give businesses housed in historical buildings exact dimensions of the size and type of billboards that can be displayed.

Another proposal is to prepare “guidelines” for the billboards and share various samples with the traders, who can then choose a sign according to their requirements.



The third proposal is to decide on one format for the entire road, without distinguishing between historical buildings and others.

“No shops will be allowed to keep colourful signs,” said Hussain. The shops will be allowed to display their names or advertise their brands in a certain style and format.

He said the committee would keep the corporate identity of the shops in mind before making any final decision.

Executive District Officer (Municipal Services) Masud Tamanna hoped that the Mall Road traders would cooperate with the city government.

Discussing the progress of other Dilkash Lahore projects, Hussain said that the restoration of the Dinga Singh building and the Shah Din building had been started. A resource centre has also been created, which will keep an inventory of all historical buildings of the city. Hussain said that at a later stage, architects associated with the resource centre will recreate the façade of historical buildings to help owners restore the buildings’ old glory.

Negotiations with traders

The Mall Road traders, the city government says, have agreed to take off ‘extra’ advertising signs in Zone 1 – from Hall Road Mor to Panorama Centre –by Thursday at the latest.

All shops are allowed to put up one sign displaying the name. However, a lot of shops have more than one sign.

The traders had agreed to take own extra signs on Saturday and on Tuesday they told a team, headed by Assistant Commissioner (City) Saira Umer, that extra signboards would be removed by Thursday.

Data Gunj Bakhsh Town TMO Arif Butt said that the Zone-1 traders had agreed to take down all but one signboard. Butt said he expected that other traders would take off additional signboards within a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2012.