January 6, 2022: Long-term planning is required for urban centers that would result in improved cities’ management, public service delivery, and revenue generation, Prime Minister Imran Khan said while chairing a meeting on road projects aimed at reducing the vehicular traffic burden of Lahore city.
The Prime Minister said that Lahore city has huge potential for generating revenue and emphasized utilizing prime urban lands that are presently unutilized and are only “dead capital”.
He added that revenue generated from prime locations can be utilized for public welfare schemes. The Prime Minister suggested that other urban projects in Lahore be operated on Public-Private Partnership mode on the lines of Ravi Urban Development and Central Business District projects.
The meeting was briefed regarding Punjab Government’s “Elevated Expressway from Main Boulevard Gulberg to M2 Motorway” project. It was informed that an elevated expressway would provide an East-West route to commuters of Lahore and it is aimed at decreasing the huge burden of vehicles on existing roads.
It was apprised that Punjab Government has previously invested Rs5 billion on the project and the total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs61 billion with a completion time of 15 months.
The project will save an average time of 30 minutes on the route and will have a capacity of 73,000 vehicles per day.
