F-9 Citizen Club building awaiting visitors for years.

ISLAMABAD -- It has been over a year since the Capital Development Authority (CDA) first approved rules for a management committee and board of governors to run the Gandhara Heritage Culture and Convention Centre in F-9's Citizen Club building laying vacant for several years.

However, the club is still not functional owing to its incomplete managing committee. Last year in November, the CDA board decided to add three private members to the centre's committee.

The federal cabinet has to approve these names, a CDA official said, adding that the centre would start operations soon after the approval. Now, the committee will have seven members - the interior secretary, the National Heritage and Culture Division secretary, the CDA chairman, and the chief commissioner as ex-officio members, while architect Nayyar Ali Dada, former Quaid-i-Azam University VC Dr Mohammad Ali, and poet Iftikhar Arif would be its private members.

Formerly known as the Citizen Club, the facility is spread over 22 acres with a 265,000 square feet covered area, has restaurants, an indoor pool, gym, lobby, aerobic area, and a fitness centre. Its construction was started by the CDA in 2008, but in 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the building could not be used as a club.

CDA official says Gandhara centre to start functioning after finalisation of managing committee

In October 2021, the CDA board approved rules for the Gandhara...