- Kh Hasaan says govt won’t even touch any heritage site, damaging them is a far-away step
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Muhammad Hasaan has said that traffic flow is a serious issue in Lahore, but it can be taken care of through Orange Line Train project.
Talking to a private news channel here, Hasaan said that Lahore was a mega city of over 10 million people and uplifting of major cities was inevitable for the country’s overall development.
Hasaan argued that not only the Metro Bus project helped reduce traffic congestion at Ferozpur corridor and contain carbon emissions, today it was running successfully and providing cozy travelling facility to nearly 0.25 million commuters on a daily basis.
Likewise, Hasaan added, the Orange Line project would provide superior travelling facility to approximately 0.5 million people on a daily basis. He further said that “this project is a joint arrangement by Pakistani and Chinese governments for welfare of Pakistani people so it should not be made controversial”.
The PML-N leader also appreciated the patience of the people uprooted by the project, saying they had rendered an unprecedented sacrifice by leaving their forefather’s land and that the government profoundly acknowledged their sacrifices. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif had already approved Rs 1.8 billion grant for compensation to the affected people, he added.
Hasaan also claimed that the government had never disturbed budget of other sectors like health as the project was being funded by Chinese Axiom Bank.
To a question, he said that a delegation of UNESCO was arriving in Lahore on February 23 and its reservations on the Orange Line project would be addressed by the Punjab government. He however said that the opponents should keep in mind the poor condition of the historical buildings before coming out for their preservation, as majority of them had been deserted and the previous government had approved the Green Line project with $2.14 billion while the PML-N government had signed it with China at a cost of $1.7 billion.
Hasaan said that latest researches had proved all under-ground transport system as unhealthy, creating skin-related diseases among people and the cost of under-ground was three times more than the above-ground project. He said the government would not even touch any heritage building while damaging it was a far-away step for it. The government had already stopped working on the project in areas the court had issued stay orders for, he added.