Govt urged to take up construction of ‘abandoned’ City Centre project

Kuldip Bhatia

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Ludhiana, September 14

Former chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) and vice-president of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) Ashok Juneja has urged the Punjab Government to take up the construction work of ‘abandoned’ City Centre project in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar colony here. When completed, the City Centre would add to the value and image of the industrial capital of the state and emerge as a hub of trade and business, he said.

After submitting a memorandum to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Juneja met LIT Chairman Parminderpal Singh Gill to emphasise upon him the significance of the project, which had been lying abandoned for more than decade now after litigation between the Trust and promoters of the project — New Delhi-based Today Homes and Infrastructure Private Limited.

While discussing the final award given by Justice RC Lahoti, former Chief Justice of India and the sole arbitrator to resolve the dispute between the promoter company and LIT, Juneja said in the operative part of the award, the arbitrator had also desired that the construction of City Centre be taken up which would be in the interest of the Trust, the promoters and the public at large.

Juneja said if the work on the project (City Centre) is resumed, it would generate a lot of money for LIT following the sale of the office and business space.

“Therefore, it is in the interest of all involved parties to sit together and discuss the modalities for the revival of this prestigious project,” he said.

About the City Centre project 
It was launched by LIT in 2005 under the then Congress regime headed by Captain Amarinder Singh. To be developed under the private-public partnership model by a Delhi-based private real estate developer, the project was shelved due to an alleged Rs 3,000-crore scam.  At the time of launch of the project more than a decade ago, LIT had claimed City Centre to be the fourth largest project in Asia with a covered area of some 45 lakh square feet. It was to have a mega mall with retail outlets, number of multiplexes and food court, a business centre – ‘The Heights’ with multi-storey towers for offices and a business centre, a five-star hotel affiliated to an international chain and a trade centre with art gallery, museum, recreation centre food plaza and a helipad.