The Orange Train has remained one of the most discussed topics in the last few months. From feasibility to root, everything related to this project not only came to limelight, the people of the city have also shown a mixed reaction towards the project. The haphazard start of the project had made the situation alarming for the people. Even the business community of the city raised some very serious questions about the project. Interestingly, the province of Punjab, which has been symbolised as an example of good governance, is the one facing it all. Although whenever people asked questions from the government, the only answer was: “This project is for poor people, the elite of the city has nothing to do with it, and they are making it controversial for their own specific interests.” Is this what we should expect from the political administration of the well-governed Punjab?
The Lahore High court has made a sensible decision. The honourable court having rejected all the petitions about the legality of the projects has ordered the government to carry on the good work. The only problem is the heritage sites on the root of the train: there are almost 11 heritage sites there. The government firstly didn’t pay any attention to this issue, but when people started to criticise, and foreign agencies also raised questions, the government started to do some work in that regard. But due to ill-planning, the government failed to follow the rule of 200 feet. According to this rule no construction is allowed in the premises of a heritage site, and if construction is necessary, it is essential to construct a building 200 feet away from the site. In this whole project, either intentionally or unintentionally, the government ignored this rule. Since the High Court’s decision, from top to bottom, almost the entire Punjab government has again started to criticise the ‘elite’ of Lahore.
An in-depth analysis of the project highlights the myriad mistakes that have been made throughout this project. First of all, in most of the cities where these kinds of trains are made, they are underground. Even the metro train in the Indian capital, New Delhi, is underground; rather, most of its part in the old Delhi is underground. On the other hand, we have again preferred the elevated route probably because of a typical ‘election mentality’. As it is clear, this train would play an integral role in the election campaign of the current government in the 2018 elections. Therefore, the elevated route has been preferred because it can be completed in two years. In India the tube train project was completed in almost 10 to 15 years.
The time duration explains the fact that developmental projects are not linked with governments; around the globe governments come and go, but development projects are not stopped and or slowed down due to any regime change. Political point-scoring is one of the basic reasons behind the haphazard way of handling this project. Due to this problem of political ownership the whole city has lost its charm. Lahore that was known to be the city of gardens is now a city of concrete and heat.
Another problem of the project is non-compliance of the step-by-step technique. The total root of the train is almost 25 kilometres. The normal practice is to do a project slowly, and complete the whole thing in small steps, but in the Orange Train project, work started on the entire root. Because of that, not only people’s day-to day business has gone down, they are also facing problems travelling within the city.
The root selection has also been questioned. The Multan Road is one of the major roads of the city. The current government has spent millions of rupees and plenty of time — almost five years — to revamp the road and install a new sewerage system. Now after five years, the road has been damaged again, and it is expected that a new sewerage system will be installed.
All of this shows incompetency of the government. From planning to implementation the whole project has been done hurriedly, due to which a great deal of damage has befallen the area. The overall look of the project suggests that its fate would also be similar to the Metrobus project, which won the election for the governmet but with the passage of time has become a white elephant. The amount of subsidy is increasing with every passing day. In a city of 10 million only 0.1 million travel via the Metrobus, which explains the ‘effectiveness’ of the project.
Development projects are important for socioeconomic betterment of the people, but it is also vital that these projects are not undertaken with a political motive. The Orange Train or Metrobus may help to win an election, but in the long run all such projects may end up becoming a white elephant that only consumes subsidy. The Orange Train is a classic case of ill planning of a political developmental project. A city where people are dying in hospitals, and most parents are forced to send their children to government schools, there is no real need of a red or orange train. The problem of the transport can be resolved with regular buses. It is important to give importance to human capital. These colourful buses and trains would never become an engine to ignite the process of economic development.
The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at [email protected]