Admin under pressure to change site of Gujrat Industrial Estate phase 2.

GUJRAT -- The fate of phase 2 of the Gujrat Industrial Estate area hangs in balance after the local administration has come under immense pressure to once again change the site of the project at a time when land acquisition is in final stages.

Official sources in the local administration told Dawn the acquisition of the land has been under process in the area located along Gujrat-Sargodha road near Saroki bridge over Upper Jhelum Canal for the last almost one year as some 200 acres piece of land has already been identified.

Now some influential political figures belonging to both the PML-N and PPP, the ruling coalition partners in Punjab and federal governments, have opposed the execution of the project at the already selected site and they have proposed a new site near Mehsam area along Gujrat-Bhimbher road.

A huge chunk of uncultivated land is available in Bamta and other villages of the area which is only a few kilometers away from the route of an under-construction Sambrial-Kharian motorway as an extension of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway, says an official of the land revenue department.

Project lingers on for over three decades

He said that Gujrat deputy Commissioner Rizwan Qadeer along with the concerned officials inspected the new proposed site last week and now a detailed report consisting pros and cons of the site is being prepared for further consumption of the senior government authorities.

A former president of Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GtCCI) Mian Waheed apprehends that any move to change the site plan may further delay the execution of this long-awaited project as several road infrastructure projects, including construction of bridges and flyovers, are already being executed around the selected site.

The project area was approved by the last Punjab...