Minister says CBD projects will lead to economic growth

LAHORE: Caretaker Provincial Minister Housing Urban Development and Public Health Engineering, Barrister Syed Azfar Ali Nasir expressing his appreciation for Central Business District’s (CBD) commitment to sustainable development and revenue generation for the government has said that these projects would pave the way for Pakistan’s economic growth.

He was impressed with the progress of CBD Punjab and the ongoing initiatives that will transform Lahore’s economic landscape.

The Minister was speaking during his visit to the Central Business District Punjab (CBD Punjab) to witness the ongoing sustainable development projects.

CEO CBD Punjab, Imran Amin, COO CBD Punjab, Brigadier Mansoor Janjua (R), Chairman CBD Punjab, Fazeel Asif Jah and others were present during the briefing session.

During the visit, the minister was briefed by the Executive Director Commercial CBD Punjab, Mohammed Omer, about the revenue generation strategies of CBD Punjab.

The district funds, builds, and sustains itself without relying on government funding or tax money. The revenue is generated through open auctions, investor networking, public/private partnerships, joint ventures, and government-to-government initiatives.

While briefing about the revenue generation activities the Caretaker Provincial Minister was informed that CBD Punjab, did its first auction in September 2021 where the authority sold five mixed-use commercial plots for an area marked as Lahore Prime and the second auction for Lahore’s first planned central Downtown was conducted in September 2022, authority sold seven mixed-use commercial plots. CBD Punjab has over 100 plus plots situated in the heart of Lahore with an estimated potential of Rs500+ billion.

CBD Punjab is a premium authority with the concept of one-window operation, favourable bylaws, fast approvals, unmatched speed-to-market, investor-friendly ease of doing business and is a center of revenue-generating for the government of Punjab. The authority offers centralized and vertical infrastructure with increased building height limits of up to 750ft.

CBD Punjab’s CEO, Imran Amin, said, “We are pleased to have the opportunity to brief Caretaker Provincial Minister Housing Urban Development and Public Health Engineering, Barrister Syed Azfar Ali Nasir, on our ongoing initiatives to establish Pakistan’s first business district. At CBD Punjab, we are committed to sustainable development, and we believe that our initiatives will help register Pakistan on the global economic map.”

CBD Punjab has undertaken several ongoing projects, including the remodeling of the Main Boulevard from Liberty to Kalma Chowk CBD Punjab Boulevard, planning of Lahore Grand Souk (1122 Site), Infrastructure development of phase I, Car Parking Plaza, and remodeling of Walton Road. The remodeling of the Kalma Chowk underpass project is almost complete with no PC1 revision and soon will be fully functional for traffic.

CBD Punjab is also constructing the CBD Quaid district flyover, connecting the main boulevard to Walton Road and Bab-e-Pakistan. Other ongoing projects are Sirius Tallest Skyscraper of Punjab, Regalia Branded Residencies, Node Digital District, Runway Retail District, and Sano Medical District.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023