Govt specifies land use in Ravi Industrial Estate in riverfront project.

LAHORE -- The government has specified the land use in the Rs30bn Ravi Industrial Estate on 1,239 acres in the phase-II of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development (RRUD) Project. The scheme includes rehabilitation of the existing industrial area in the phase-I, called the Ravi Industrial Zone, on 950 acres, Dawn has learnt.

According to documents available with Dawn, the total area (both of the existing industrial area and newly planned one) is 2,200 acres that includes 950 acres of the existing industrial zone developed in an unplanned manner on scattered pieces of land in the past. The area for the new industrial estate is 1,239 acres for which land-use of various natures has been specified by the Ravi Urban Development Authority (Ruda)-the government's entity executing the project.

Under the plan, the new estate would be developed on 691 acres, 55.84pc of the total land-1,239 acres. Of 691.89 acres, 592 and 99 acres fall within the district boundary of Lahore and Sheikhpura, respectively. For park and open spaces, 137 acres had been allocated while commercial areas would be developed on 3.88 acres. Apartment buildings, common facilities, a sports complex and roads would consume 45, 70, 21 and 267 acres, respectively. The common facilities consist of Rescue-1122, a truck terminal, retail shops, mosques, hospital, grid station, school/college etc.

The document reveals that the scheme would have road infrastructure on the pattern of gridiron road and linear road. The power source will be made available through a self-sufficient sustainable power grid station (solar power) with uninterrupted electricity supply. It would have a combined effluent wastewater treatment plant, transport system (Green Bus Transit System i.e. electric busses), separate bus lanes and stations throughout the industrial estates.

The industrial estate project objectives include integration of existing industries to control and discourage the irregular expansion, up-gradation of existing industrial area through provision of new roads and infrastructural facilities of water supply, sewerage and drainage system, maintaining uniformity in road width and vehicular movement by allocating minimum and maximum road widths, implementing building by-laws for existing industrial area, implementation of Environmental Laws to control smog and...