Ravi City to bring foreign investment

LAHORE:Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) was building a modern and world class city at the bank of river Ravi; this was stated by Imran Amin, CEO RUDA in ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by Lahore Press Club here on Monday.

“In three to four years, the features of the new city will be clear in which people will have access to modern facilities including education and health,” he said adding RUDA will not snatch any land. He said that foreign investors were also being invited to invest in the first phase of the project. Imran Amin said that work on the project would start in two to three months and it will be completed before the stipulated time. He revealed that three water treatment plants have been approved for the project.

He claimed that the new city will be similar to Dubai and Singapore and would be spread over an area of more than 100,000 acres and its construction would be one of the few masterpieces in the world. Arshad Ansari President Lahore Press Club (LPC), Zahid Ch, Secretary Press Club Lahore, Brig (retd) Mansoor Janjua, Head of Operations, Kashif Qureshi, Head of Marketing and Commercial of RUDA were also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Imran further said that the Ravi city project would help a lot in ending unemployment in the country especially in the provincial metropolis. He added that barrages and lakes would be constructed and water treatment plants would be established in the new city to save and purify water. He revealed that an organised transport system would be introduced to connect the new city with the old city for which new bridges would also be constructed on the river Ravi. ‘Modern industrial area, education city and modern health facilities will be provided in the modern city while modern farming will also be promoted to meet the food needs’.

He said RUDA was working on fast track and people will automatically start witnessing the usefulness of this mega project after just three years. Referring to the Auditor General's objections to the flood plan, he said, "We have worked on it before the city started. According to the Irrigation Department, if there is a natural calamity on this project, it will control up to 586,000 cusecs. Answering a question that the project will affect the agricultural area of Lahore, Imran Amin said: “We will try to promote farming here with the help of agricultural experts through modern technology”. He informed me that there would be a press club for residential quota.

“It’s encouraging development on the part of Punjab government to give journalists a journalist colony in the project and RUDA will also try to give a quota to journalists after completing rest of the formalities”. President LPC Arshad Ansari on this occasion said that the Ravi Urban Project was a huge project of the government to build a modern city which will create many jobs.