Trade centre to come up at original site, says PUDA Chief Administrator

Tribune News Service
Amritsar, February 19

The Chief Administrator of PUDA, Deepti Uppal, has said the proposed integrated trade centre-cum-commercial complex will come up at its original location.

She said the centre would be constructed on about 15 acres with extra features.

Earlier, the district administration, along with PUDA, had been looking for another site as it found 10-acre land insufficient for the complex.

According to officials, it was felt that the proposed centre should be built on about 15 acres so that more features could be added.

According to the plan, an integrated trade centre-cum-commercial-cum-recreational complex will be built at the Central Jail venue, spread over an area of 109 acres. The building of the abandoned jail has already been pulled down.

Raman Gupta, an industrialist, said, “A large number of tourists visit the city daily, but there is no medium to showcase the locally manufactured goods such as shawls, tweeds, blazer, brass utensils and others under one roof. It is a long-pending demand of traders in the city to have a world-class trade and convention centre to promote business.”

Saurabh Arora, a trader, said in August, Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh had announced a business-cum-exhibition centre at a cost of Rs450 crore in Ludhiana.

According to the Chief Minister, the centre would be built the in a record time, he said.

“But an international trade, exhibition-cum-convention centre announced for the holy city about nine years ago is yet to see light of day at the grassroots level,” Arora added.