Bureau Report
LAHORE: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) Imran Amin has said that locals will be preferred to others in jobs, health and education facilities in the new city being developed on the banks of the old Ravi.
Addressing ‘Meet the Press’ at the Lahore Press Club here, he said the locals of the area, selected for developing Ravi Riverfront City, will have the first right to jobs, adding that a quota will be fixed for them.
The CEO RUDA said the work on the first phase of the Ravi Riverfront City will start in the next two months and it will be completed before time, adding that foreign investors have been invited to invest in the new city on the outskirts of Lahore.
Imran Amin said a new city was need of the hour as Lahore is faced with multiple challenges due to over population and inefficient civic planning, adding that the master-plan of Lahore should have been revised multiple times in the past but it was not done by the previous regimes.
He dispelled the impression that the land will be forcibly acquired for the development of the new city, adding that the affectees will be accommodated through various regulations in the Act. He said the private builders will not be able to harm interests of the public in the newly planned city.
Imran Amin said Ravi city is a modern city of international standards, adding that features of the new city will be visible in three to four years time. “Built on Dubai and Singapore models, Ravi city will be scattered over an area of 100000 acres and its buildings will be architectural masterpieces to the world”, he added.
He said the masses are aware of the benefits of the Ravi City, adding that the public must play its positive role in the success of the development of a new city which will address housing, infrastructure, water and environmental challenges to the historic Lahore.
The CEO said mounting pressure of human and vehicular population had resulted in multiple health and mobility problems in Lahore, adding that during the last winter, it was reckoned as the most polluted city in the world due to prevailing massive smog that had resulted in ailment of thousands of its residents.
“We have envisaged a city of future dreams. It will meet the water needs of Lahore till 2045,” he said, adding that “With a length of 46 kilometres and a width of 3280 feet surrounded by a 33 feet high wall, it will look like a gift of nature for the people of Lahore.”
He said three barrages would be built to attain the water level for the riverfront as the project was to generate enormous financial activity through creation of new jobs, housing facilities, clean environment and futuristic facilities.
He said 836 cusecs of untreated domestic wastewater is dumped into the project area of Ravi River and development of a lake would purge the Ravi of domestic and industrial waste, and provide 271 billion liters of water, adding that the waste water treatment plants would help treat 2.4 million liters of water that would irrigate 75,000 acres of land. He said that the Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA) Lahore has already approved three water treatment plants.
To a question regarding auditor general’s objection on flood plan, he said in case of a natural calamity like the floods, the city has the capacity to control a water flow of 586000 cusecs, adding that the feasibility existed before the work was started on the project. He said the objections raised by the Auditor General are not in conflict with the Act.
About set-back to the agriculture in the area, the CEO RUDA said the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) had received 171 applications to develop housing societies on the site of the Ravi City, adding that the LDA did not approve the applications.
He said, however, the authority will consult agriculture experts to start farming on modern lines in the new city.
President Lahore Press Club Arshad Ansari, Head of Operations RUDA Brig (R) Mansoor Janjua and Head of Marketing and Commercial RUDA were also present during the press conference.
