Kot Mithan to have tourism resort and museum

The project is scheduled to be completed in 18 months.

MULTAN:

Dera Ghazi Khan Commissioner Sohail Shehzad on Friday approved construction of a tourism resort and a museum in Kot Mithan, Rajanpur district’s historical city.

The commissioner, who was appointed in the position just three days ago, said promotion of culture and heritage was among his priorities.

The commissioner also directed the authorities to illuminate these places and display promotional banners to highlight these places for tourists. The projects approved on Friday will be completed at an estimated cost of Rs86 million. The approval came in a joint meeting with several officials of the Tourism Development Authority, including its development and finance directors; the Dera Ghazi Khan Arts Council resident director, the senior engineer (provincial buildings) and the Tourism Development Corporation of Pakistan planning and development chief officer.



A Tourism Development Authority official told The Express Tribune that the museum and the tourism resort would be constructed on 48 kanals. He said the project was planned to be completed in 18 months.

He said guides will be recruited for tourists wishing to visit other places in the division.

He said security would be provided for foreigners. He said the commissioner had also given special instructions to district police to develop a security plan for tourists.

Seraiki and Punjabi poetry has roots in Kot Mithan, burial place of sufi saint Khawaja Ghulam Fareed.

The saint’s mausoleum and a Punjabi and Seraiki poetry library close by are most visited places in the city every year. With Ghulam Fareed’s death anniversary falling on February 5, thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit the place. The city with a population of 15,000 people, was inundated in the 2010 floods in the River Indus.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2014.