The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has yet to execute its plans to construct Cineplex and other entertainment complexes in the federal capital even after passage of four years.
The project was launched by the authority in 2007 amid a litany of complaints by Islooites about a lack of entertainment facilities in the city. The grounding-breaking for the project was held at the proposed site on Club Road with a view to providing quality entertainment to people, a CDA official told Pakistan Today. He said that after approval of the project, the CDA, tasked the Project Management Office (PMO) with completing it. “Besides construction of cinema halls, PMO is working on several other projects but the majority of them have yet not been completed yet”, he said. The official said the estimated cost of the project was Rs 50 million and it was scheduled for completion in 2008. It was planned that Cinepax will spread over two acres of land and have four halls, he said. It was also decided that the CDA would construct Cinepax in the other parts of the city after the completion of the first project.
The official said the capital’s three cinemas: Nefdec, Melody Cinema and Kohsar Cinema at Sitara Market were not operating. “Melody Cinema was burnt by some extremists a few years ago and after the 2005 earthquake it was converted into a medical centre for the quake victims”, he said. The official said the other two cinemas had been closed to the public because of their dilapidated condition. “Pakistan is the only country in the world which does not have a cinema in its capital city,” he said. Dismayed at the situation, cinema lovers say CDA had deprived them of recreation. “On one hand, the authorities claim that they are spending huge money on the promotion of culture activities but on the other hand the federal capital does not have a single movie theatre,” they said.
