Islamabad (Staff Report): The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan will announce the reserved verdict of Orange Line Metro Train case today (Friday).
According to details, the proceedings in SC began after Punjab government had filed petitions against the Lahore High Court’s August 2016 order that had suspended the construction of the Rs 45 billion Orange Line Metro Train within 200 feet of 11 historical sites in the city.
SC’s five-member bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal had reserved the decision regarding the Orange Line Metro Train case on April 17.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s new budget stated that the biggest development project in the history of Lahore, Orange Line Metro Train Project, has been allocated the largest amount of finance in the history of development projects. Rs 93 billion has been allocated for the project in the development budget of Punjab for this year, which is Rs 8 billion more than the amount allocated last year.
No development project has ever been allocated such an amount from the budget. The fact that such a huge amount has been dedicated to this project shows the interest of the Punjab government in the completion of this project. It also shows that this is the Punjab government’s star project, which they aim to cash on in the next general elections.
Around 70 percent of the development work has been completed on the 27 kilometre long metro train project. Out of the total distance of the train track, approximately 24 kilometres of the track will be elevated while around 1 kilometre will be underground. The project will have 26 stations out of which Anarkali and Central Station will be underground. The endpoints of the Orange Line route will be Ali Town at Raiwind and Dera Gujran at GT Road.
The trains will be fully automated and driverless, and underground train stations will have automated doors between trains and platform, while public areas of the stations will be air conditioned during the summer.
Work related to the project is continuing at a fast pace. The laying of rail tracks for the project has also begun. Recently, the first of the 27 trains for the Orange Line project was unveiled in China. The train has five coaches and possesses an energy saving air-conditioning system. The train will be delivered in July while the rest of the trains will be delivered by the end of next year.
