Lahore: Model town community centre facing prolonged delays

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Project cost increased from Rs 210 million to Rs 270 million, likely to soar with further delays
* MTS president says delays caused by rivalries, election and rains
* Centre to open in 2010

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: A planned five-star community centre for the Model Town Society (MTS) has been facing delay after delay, depriving the society’s members of any such facility despite the MTS being one of the elite residential facilities of the city.

The pre-Partition residential society is considered at par with the elite DHA in terms of civic facilities and standards. However, the MTS has been without a community centre at par with the Defence Club and other such places.

The aim of the community centre is to serve the residents like the Lahore Gymkhana and the Defence Club. It would provide all the modern facilities to its members, including a bowling club, a swimming pool and restaurants.

Soaring costs: The project cost was originally estimated at Rs 210 million, but the cost increased to Rs 270 million due to inflation. Further delays could increase the development cost even further. The project was started in the second quarter of 2008, and was supposed to be completed in 18 months. However, with the deadline approaching, only half of the project has been completed.

The delay is also annoying MTS residents, who have to become members of other expensive clubs where they are not given any special benefits. Moeen, a local resident, old Daily Times that the society administration had awarded the project to an inexperienced Faisalabad-based construction firm. He said the project was started some 45 days later than scheduled. “The heavy monsoon in 2008 caused the second delay, when the basement of the 80,000-square-foot community centre was filled with rainwater. In the last elections, a lot of hue and cry was raised over lapses in the project, and it still seems a fiction because of the massive work still not done,” he said.

Moeen said the MTS was a complete residential unit developed before the 1947 Partition, and its purpose was to provide cinema halls, amusement parks, super markets and community centres to the residents. MTS President Colonel ® Tahir Kardar told Daily Times that the administration awarded the contract to the company offering to build the community centre at the lowest cost. He said the development work was on schedule.

Reasons: Kardar said rivalries between different groups in the community, recent society elections and rain were the main reasons behind the delays in the project.

Coming soon: He said the community centre would be opened to public by the first quarter of 2010. The MTS president said the delays were caused by internal issues, and not by negligence of the administration.

He said the centre would provide five-star facilities to the visitors. He said the centre would have the capacity to accommodate 3,000 people, and the space could be extended for an additional 1,500 people in the event of a wedding or other community events.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...09_pg13_10