Active industries exempt from RUDA

LAHORE: On the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan, all the existing industrial units have been exempted and would not be relocated from the area notified for Ravi Urban Development Project (RUDA), an official said on Saturday.

RUDA spokesman SM Imran and Senior Member Board of Revenue Punjab Babar Hayat Tarar said these industries would continue to function at their present places and residential localities, as these did not fall in the course of the river, and thus would not be acquired.

Settlements on 2,500 acres of land would not be acquired for the project.

During the meeting, local industrialists welcomed Prime Minister’s pro-people decision and expressed complete satisfaction over the guarantee given to them.

Imran said a large number of settlements that sprung up in the flood prone area of the river Ravi during the past few decades, were in grave danger due to the release of floodwaters by India at any given time.

“Acquisition of such localities would be a compulsion,” he added.

He informed that RUDA, spread on 120,000 acres, would be planned according to the modern standards. It would be developed in three phases spanning over 30 years. “In the first phase of the project, a 46km long lake would be set up by erecting 28 feet high walls on both sides of the river, besides constructing barrages at three places.”

It would be an environment friendly city where six million saplings would be planted and 10,000 acres of land would be set aside for forest and orchards.