PHOTO: APP

LAHORE: Local authorities are all set to hand over five stations and seven kilometres of elevated tracks of the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) to Chinese contractors CR-NORINCO. This will ensure that the contractors can lay rails as well as other electrical and mechanical work.



Civil works had already been completed on these portions.



Almost 63% of the civil works had been completed, said OLMT Steering Committee Chairman Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan. He was speaking to a weekly progress review meeting on Wednesday.



Civil works of five metro train stations, including Dera Gujjran, Islam Park, Salamatpura, Mahmood Buti and Pakistan Mint, have also been completed.



The site near Patyala Ground had been identified for shifting of an existing tube well on McLeod Road, he said, adding development activity would start soon. The government would provide land for construction of grid station in Chah Meeran area in the near future, he added.



The government was providing alternate land to Jamia Muhammadia, which was badly affected by the project. Ahmad said construction activity on all 13 elevated stations of metro train package-II stations was underway.



He directed all utility companies to cover manholes in their respective areas. The chairman said project contractors should follow security protocols and remove debris from the sites where construction works has been completed, he said. Keeping in view the current security situation in the country, he asked civil contractors to check credentials of the workforce before deployment.



He requested local authorities to set December 25, 2017, as the deadline for the completion of the country’s first metro train project.



The 27-kilometer Orange Line Metro Train Project is being funded through $1.65 billion soft loan through China’s Exim Bank. The project documents indicate around $1 billion would be directly transferred to the Chinese contractors, CR-NORINCO, for procurement of rolling stock. The remaining amount would be transferred to Pakistan for the construction of tracks and provision of allied infrastructure.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2017.