Mubarak Centre — tall claims to build the tallest building

LAHORE: Into its fourth year of rule in Punjab, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has announced to reinitiate the historic multibillion rupee project of constructing the Sheikh Zayed Complex also known as The Mubarak Centre in Lahore that has been pending for the last 16 years.

With a cost of $450 million, the project to construct the Mubarak Centre at Ferozepur Road was initiated in 2006 by the incumbent Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi who was then Punjab chief minister. The deadline for the completion of the project was 2010.

Termed as the tallest building in Pakistan, Mubarak Centre designed by architects Turner International, saw the beginning of groundwork in April 2006 to prepare the site for construction but it remained neglected during the consecutive 10 years of rule (2008 till 2018) of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The project couldn’t attract the attention of the PML-N mainly due to political reasons as it was initiated by Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the PML-Q, political rival of the N League.

The centre was to include residential and office towers, as well as conference halls and a shopping mall. The height of the building would have made it visible from neighbouring India, and would have facilitated residents of the upper floors to view the Golden Temple in Amritsar — approximately 50km from Lahore.

According to sources in the Planning & Development (P&D) Department Punjab, the project was designed to cover 11 acres of prime land at the main Ferozepur Road. Initially, the complex consisted of four towers and a small ellipse-shaped building. The main tower would be 60 storeys high with the first 45 floors reserved for offices and the rest for residential apartments. The plan, they added, included a five-star hotel (with 400 rooms, ballrooms, banquet facilities and other amenities and a Cineplex (with six independent theatres).

The other three towers would have 30 to 45 storeys with a tower in between, which would house individually designed apartments along a five-storey shopping mall, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in the region. Tower 1 will be 250 metres high; tower 2 about 100 metres; towers 3, 4 and 5 would be 188 metres high.

The complex was to connect with the Gaddafi Stadium Sports Complex by a covered bridge or an underpass.

The project was to be carried out as a 70/30 joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Group and the government of Punjab. The two investors had formed a holding company for Mubarak Centre called Taavun (Pvt) Ltd which was to be responsible for managing the project. Turner Construction, one of the largest construction companies in the US, was hired as contractors/builders.

In September 2009, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had stated that the Sheikh Mubarak Al Nahyan Company had postponed the project of building the Mubarak Centre due to alleged inappropriate attitude and lack of interest on the part of former Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif. Elahi had further claimed that the project was one of several which had been postponed or their construction was stopped due to the PML-N’s indifferent attitude.

Earlier, the ice was broken in the Dubai Business Conference held in Dubai in 2010 in which former Punjab CM Shehbaz had met the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Group, Sheikh Mubarak Al Nahyan, and offered him to renegotiate the construction and ownership deal of the Mubarak Centre.

In November 2011, Shehbaz Sharif started negotiations again with Sheikh Mubarak Al Nahyan to reconsider the project with an amended construction plan. According to the new plan, in the first phase, eight-floor Mubarak Centre would be constructed out of which half of the underground construction would be used for parking area having capacity of 2,100 vehicles and above four floors of modern shopping centre.

Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum were retained as project consultants and architects. The total cost of the project was increased from $450m to approximately $1.2 billion.

Similarly, the decision to construct the high-rise tower was cancelled. It was decided to construct four more floors for commercial-cum-residential apartments and the final floor would be a modern five-star hotel. In the new design, the connecting tunnel of Mubarak Centre and the Gaddafi Stadium was also removed. Former P&D chairman Javed Aslam had said that the change in design was made following the result of a need-based survey conducted by both the stakeholders which proved that use of apartments for living was not popular in Lahore. Even after all those negotiations, the work on the project could not be started.

Sources in P&D department further said the Punjab government had already paid some Rs1.8bn for the project in the Pervaiz Elahi era.

Now, a week back, the incumbent CM Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar had met with Sheikh Nahyan of the UAE during Dubai Expo, and both sides agreed to construct the long-pending project. The CM Punjab had visited Dubai along with his delegation having representation from P&D as well.

During the meeting with CM Punjab, Abu Dhabi Group announced to invest Rs60bn in the project. With less than 18 months to the next general elections, the project can take years to complete due to multiple reasons including any change in the government in the province.

Expressing his excitement over the initiative, Usman Buzdar said, “I would like to thank Sheikh Nahyan of the UAE for a very warm welcome & MoU with the “Dhabi Group” to bring in Rs60 billion investment in Lahore.”

Buzdar further said completion of the project will provide accommodation for international cricket teams which suggested that the connecting tunnel of Mubarak Centre and Gaddafi Stadium would have been revised again.

A source in the Punjab government, who was also part of the CM’s delegation, told Bol News that Zahir Khan Brothers (ZKB) builders have been finalized for the project whereas the infrastructure development company of the Punjab government would monitor the entire working on the project. Senior bureaucrat Mujahid Sherdil would be the overall in charge of the project being the chairman P&D.

Talking to Bol News, spokesperson of the P&D Punjab Sahar Iqbal said Mubarak Centre is located at Ferozepur Road just between Kalma Chowk and Qaddafi Stadium.

She said the project is a joint venture of the Dhabi Group of UAE and government of Punjab. Talking about the project, she said total area of the project is approximately 40,000 square metres.