Saving our heritage

With almost half of the civil work completed on the intercity mass transit rail system, aka the Orange Line, in Lahore, there is little use of demanding that this project be abandoned for being too expensive and a threat to historical sites. But, certain changes can still be adopted to minimise the harm.

The Punjab government is building a 27.1 km Orange Line, at a total cost of Rs 170 billion. This means that the rail project will cost Rs6.3 billion per kilometre. At the Lahore High Court, the government stated that it could not provide terms and conditions for the project’s financing without the approval of the Chinese government, as it is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Officials of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) privately say that the Export-Import Bank of China has funded the Orange Line. No official word is available about the rate of interest and the time period of the loan’s return. It is alleged that the rate of interest is as high as 6 percent, which is why the provincial government has kept it secret.

After being criticised by a section of the civil society, the Punjab government has expedited the pace of the work on the Orange Line, so that it can be accomplished before any legal impediment comes its way. This fiscal year, four energy projects in the province have been postponed, so that funds can be provided to the metro train.

A decade ago, the government of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi planned a similar project, for which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was willing to provide a loan at the nominal interest rate of 0.5 percent.

Thus, the current project is much more expensive, as far as terms and conditions are concerned.

The Orange Line project is elevated, or above the ground, while the ADB-funded train project was to be underground, in the form of tunnel. The rail track is on an elevated viaduct of 25.4 km, while 1.7 km is underground, in the form of cut and cover, like Lahore’s underpasses.

Civil engineers say that the laying of a mass transit train line underground (in the form of a tunnel) costs four times more than an elevated line. The other form of underground line (cut and cover) is 70 percent more expensive than the elevated track. Had the rail track been built underground in the form of cut and cover, more urban properties would have had to be acquired. Thus, the government did not opt for that.

However, the elevated track, 12 metres (39.4 feet) from the ground, has a cultural cost. The 27 km long rail line, passing through most parts of old Lahore, is going to alter the character and cultural identity of the city. The Orange Line passes close to at least 11 historical sites and monuments, in violation of the Antiquities Act of 1975, which debars any construction within 60.9 metres (200 feet) of a historical building.

The 13 metres (42.6 feet) wide track passes along the outer wall of the historical Shalamar Gardens for 100 metres on G T Road. The distance of the rail track from the Gardens is 50 feet, or 15.3 metres, which is in contravention of the antiquities law. Similarly, the train track is at a distance of 16 metres, or 52 feet, from the historical Chauburji monument. The Dai Anga monument is just 20 feet from the rail line.

The Shalamar Gardens are on the UN’s World Heritage Sites list, and a train route close to this site is in conflict with Article 11 of the World Heritage Convention, to which Pakistan is a signatory. This convention declares that heritage properties may be put on the World Heritage in Danger List and eventually stricken off the heritage list, if “threatened by serious and specific dangers such as… large scale public or private projects or rapid urban or tourist development projects”.

The proposed site of the Anarkali Interchange Station is Kapurthala House, a pre-Partition princely property. A portion of the courtyard of the Mauj Darya Bukhari shrine, located next to Kapurthala House, an Emperor Akbar period site, will be cut for the train line. Similarly, the train goes past the Lakshmi Mansions, which are protected under the Special Premises Ordinance 1985. Jain Mandir has already been demolished for the rail line.

Some concerned citizens have petitioned the Lahore High Court to challenge the violation of the law, and the court stayed the civil works near 11 historical sites. The government can avoid the violation of the antiquities law and the city’s cultural identity by building the track underground, in the form of cut and cover or tunnel, whichever is suitable for the nature of location.

The option of going underground near the historical sites may increase the cost of the project by one or two billion rupees but this does not matter, keeping in view its overall cost of Rs170 billion and the significance of preserving an old city’s historical character. Another option could be to push the rail line’s alignment to a safe distance from certain monuments.

Email: adnanadilzaidi@gmail.com