The Orange Line

By
Abdullah Khan Sumbal
-
23
807

No red flag, please

 

The open letter addressed to the Chief Minister Punjab by the civil society about the Orange Line train in Lahore and published by one of the leading national dailies has been read with a good deal of interest in the government circles and the consequent consternation has led me, in my capacity as Commissioner Lahore, to respond to it. This is in no way a riposte but a well-meaning effort at developing better understanding and removing the ambivalence that exists in several quarters by someone who is privy to most of the developments.

We, in the Punjab Government and the Lahore Administration, are advocates and proponents of socially and culturally sensitive development. As hands-on practitioners, we encounter issues that require balancing acts of diverse nature. Among these, the most challenging ones are with respect to striking a balance between the infrastructure development imperatives and socio-environmental (cum cultural) considerations. The developing country’s compulsions occasionally outweigh the more noble considerations but do leave a scar or two on our minds. Whenever I have shared this feeling or qualm with my friends in bureaucracies of the other countries, I got this feedback that the developmental impetus always comes with a cost that gives the practitioners a few jitters or an eerie feeling of having compromised (for want of a more neutral word) nobler and more desirable concerns.

This should, however, never imply that the developing countries’ governments, like ours, conduct the developmental mandate with careless abandon and that their developmental approach is bereft of social, cultural and environmental sensitivities. It is just that the developmental deficit is huge and the ‘catch up’ is always an uphill struggle, and one which does not allow a lot of time.I recall having mentioned this to the Chief Minister Punjab some two years ago and he shared my concerns on this account. The Chief Minister’s passion for horticulture and floriculture is well known and has contributed to matchless green spaces and gorgeously abloom and laden parks. He supervised all these endeavours day in, day out for more than a decade now over different periods of time. We are right now in the process of giving a major impetus to horticulture development in Lahore particularly, with splendid elements of Chinese vertical horticulture and other innovative floriculture being implemented methodically.

Of late, the effort aimed at bringing art to public spaces, under the rubric of Beautification of Lahore Framework, has been personally championed by him and I earnestly believe it has the makings of something truly resplendent and culturally refreshing. A few of the leading lights of our civil society were instrumental in taking this agenda forward meaningfully. The magnificent ‘Bird House’, recently inaugurated at the Istanbul Chowk, is a testament to this positive collaboration. At least six more superbly-designed ‘art in public spaces’ projects are on the anvil. All of them would depict our rich culture and history in the most aesthetically pleasing manner. Another initiative which would be a robust testament to our unequivocal deference and unwavering commitment to Lahore’s history and heritage is the establishment of the Greater Iqbal Park. This, we believe, would be the jewel in Lahore’s crown and has the makings of a world class tourist hub, given its amazing vicinity.

Let me assure the readers that we are committed to making Lahore a truly world class city, one wherein you would find a superb mélange of the traditional and the modern. None of our efforts would be devoid of our singular commitment to this particular ideal. The Orange Line would be the common man’s ride, with cautious estimations indicating a daily ridership of a stupendous 245,000 commuters. It navigates and traverses through places and localities where people languishing in the poorest income quintiles live. Its pro-poor orientation coupled with the indisputable correlation between subsidised urban transport and poverty reduction make for a compelling case.

More importantly, let me assert in clear terms that the Orange Line will not damage at all any historical building or monument and none of the interventions going into its construction and engineering will impact adversely our historical and heritage sites. The much quoted impact of vibrations impacting existing old buildings is also baseless since the vibration level is as low as one-tenth of the permissible threshold. And as for the Shalamar Gardens, our team of legal experts is in the process of finalising the most plausible and legally sound reply to the UNESCO’s letter with respect to the World Heritage Convention.

The government instead has found avenues to restore heritage sites like the presently run-down Chauburji, Mouj Darya Darbar, St Andrews Church, Buddu’s Tomb, Dai Anga’s Tomb, Gulabi Bagh and Zaib-ul-Nisa’s Tomb in the most delectable and traditionally enriched style as well as building aesthetically pleasing train stations en route. Uplifting of Shalamar Gardens and the Lahore Fort is already afoot. The debate on opting for keeping the entire route underground has also been explained at all forums. Apart from the exponential increase in cost, there is the compelling argument based on the fact that the alignment as well as the decision to stay over ground were determined by comprehensive and elaborate analyses by expert consultants.

These decisions are truly based on robust consultancy reports and have not been taken whimsically at all as alleged. As for the concern about the elevated structure impeding the view of historical and heritage sites, let me inform you that, to the contrary, this elevated structure provides several vantage points offering spectacular sightings of these monuments on board, in particular that of the Shalamar Gardens. Furthermore, the concern raised about uprooting and depriving livelihoods of a huge number of people is also unfounded since the compensation on offer is better than the market rate calculations.

We have also reached out purposefully to the segments of civil society, the main critics of our approach and at some level the project itself. Holding detailed consultative sessions with them separately on December 5 and December 10 respectively was instrumental in highlighting our viewpoint and the fact that we have been approaching the project in the most well-intentioned manner. Elaborate presentations, candid discussions and simulations substantially clarified a lot of misunderstandings and a few misgivings we believe.

These heritage sites have been victims of unbridled urbanisation which went unnoticed by the entire civil society (while the government of the time dithered, if not exactly looked the other way) and the consequent urban clutter so very close to the Shalamar Gardens is more than an eye-sore. Yet, there is every possibility of handling it in a much better manner this time around. We are firm believers in urbanisation with a human and cultural face and I hope this response would assuage the concerns in a major way and we would garner support for the timely and result-oriented execution of one of the most significant China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

Any stumbling block in the way of Orange Line now would send all the wrong signals to Beijing since the project details have been, one) firmed up there; and two) are sanctified by bilateral, sovereign framework agreement. What also needs to be borne in mind is that CPEC has all the turn-around potential that could take our developmental trajectory in the most desirable direction. It is an opportunity that we simply cannot miss and hindrances in its way just do not augur well for our future. The clarion call for its most appropriate execution is all too audible and simply cannot be ignored.

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23 COMMENTS

  4. Appropriate and timely elaborate explanation about the project should help. Weldone mr. Abdullah Khan Sumbal..keep it up.

  8. The honorable commissioner should share the exact route with citizens & then call a detailed meeting of citizens to hear their issues…. He should also know that it is not about historical sites only but the CULTURE & PEOPLE OF OLD LAHORE where neighborhoods are being destroyed with overhead & cut&cover…. Additionally he should STOP making the expert argument…. the Experts who did the 2-yr, $300million study in 2005-07 layed out a 7km tunnel underground train going under old Lahore (Chauburgi – GT Road). He should reread the study himself & share it with all Government Departments involved so they can understand why EXPERTS suggested it. Old Anarkali – Lakshmi – Railway Station & rest of old lahore is not up for comprise by its citizens. Destruction of neighborhoods, livelihoods at this scale is not acceptable. I think the honorable Commissioner & Chief Minister should be very clear that destruction of Old Lahore will be the beginning of the end of PML-N in Lahore and future criminal cases against the bureaucracy which helped destroy our city (when finally the Sharifs leave). Nobody is against development. We are against destruction of our city. We are open to public debate & discussion at any public forum, ideally a live debate on TV would be good. We have done our homework and detest being labeled as romantics from an earlier era. -Raheem

  9. I wish if this much amount can be spend on industry building and increasing exports. We need to set the priority, what is important food, job or road infrastructure. This is not going to help the poor. What solution are you providing for the transportation companies or peoples who are currently serving on this routes.
    Please think about Pakistan.

    • I'll reply since the Commisioner won't read your comments, nor will he have an answer even if he did: " No solution will be provided to industry. Sorry, we will use public funds to travel and build monuments. We will establish a Shareef dynasty in this country. If you don't like it, leave !"

  10. I agree with mr. Raheem a public debate live on tv is an excellent idea. This cannot be taken lightly because in this day and age when we have options available why settle for SCARS when we can use the knowledge and strategic planning to insert much needed public transit system in an appropriate way. And also does Lahore need a Disneyland?….Wake up people.

  11. Sir, commendable. However, please the blocking of roads on main boulevard are creating so much frustration. Petrol isn’t cheap and we are not on the highway that we forget a turning and need to go way ahead to take an exit. It is so annoying. Please the u turns are narrow and the other side road becomes narrow due to these u turns. Plus Lahore is known for its lush green trees. Cutting them down in the name of development not only hampers the beauty increases pollution and global warming. Please yes we need development but without changing the original facade of Lahore. The city of gardens looks like city of concrete. It is hot majority of the months. How can the trees on the main Boulevard ever provide shade.

  13. There should have been a public debate on this issue,which is very destructive and inconvenient to thousand people living around, though could be beneficial to some ,nevertheless is a wastage of money and hard on the people,,,,,,,had benn debatedopenly ,these stops and stations should have been LINKED by theALLthe buses Routes to go around the city, which IS now not feasible and is very inconvenient and a big burden on the exchequer .

  15. Lahore's civil society in love with the city's unique socio cultural heritage and Commissioner Lahore Division on behalf of the executive each have valid points of view in their own right. The Commissioner seems to have argued on behalf of the executive with the maximum competence a generalist bureaucrat can. As a citizen of Delhi with no less concern for Delhi's unique heritage I have some first hand experience to share.
    I can look back and recall the execution phase of the Delhi metro when more or less similar voices of protests were heard from concerned citizens about destruction of heritage, obliteration of the traditional culture of free and frank neighbourhood and damage to properties due to tunneling of the underground portion of the metro route were heard. There were also apprehensions about the cost-benefit ratio of the project.
    Now when Delhi metro is fully operational we find that the architectural heritage of the city has remained intact, there has been no damage to the properties in the vicinity of the tunnels and no dilution of the rich culture of the city's traditional life style. The benefits accruing from the metro rail far outweigh the costs in terms of affordable public transport and environment due to reduced automobiles on the road. The poorest sections of Delhi's citizenry are perhaps the biggest gainers as commutation from one corner of the city to another has for the first time become easily affordable. Those who were against Delhi metro now realise that their protests were not well founded after all. I do hope the story unfolds exactly the same way in Lahore once Lahore metro becomes operational.

    • dear Ojha,,,,, if the Punjab Govt was using Tunnel Technology through the old city, we would not have an issue….. but this brilliant government is using Overheads & Cut&Cover through historical parts of the city….

  16. A typical reply from our friend. I wonder what civil service has done to these fellows who used to be cool guys in college when we were growing up. Sumbal I am not moved by hearing that you are preparing legal response to UNESCO. I would have been please if you would have said that the city is considering changing the design of the Orange Line. The Metro bridge will overshadow the beauty of the Shalimar Gardens. Have you been to Simthsonian in Washington DC? or Trafalgar square in London. If you would then create something like that so that people can move around and watch the beauty from outside as well as from inside of those buildings.

  19. Lahore will remain the ‘city of gardens’ & Orange train will not snatch this unique distinction from it. Rather it will add another dimension of a modern outlook to the city raising citizen’s morale and strengthening their ego by acquisition of a modern transport facility for their fast mobility at affordable cost. Commendable efforts for bringing the city out of the third world label. Mitigation measures are always development friendly and are undertaken to minimize the adverse environmental impacts as far as possible. In case some residual impacts remains they should be within the acceptable limits. In the context of Orange train environmental and social benefits far outweigh the capital, environmental and heritage cost.

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