LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority will hold a meeting with Unesco officials in Islamabad on Friday (today) to get restoration/renovation work of the Jahangir`s Tomb and gardens in Shahdara executed under phase-I of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development (RRFUD) project.

Officials say since the tomb and the adjacent gardens are designated as the `protected monuments,` any sort of intervention related to restoration by the LDA or other departments is required to be discussed and approved by the experts, including those from Unesco and archeology department.`The meeting is scheduled to take place at the Unesco office in Islamabad. The LDA DG and other officials concerned will attend it.

The participants will discuss all issues related to restoration/civil work of the monuments and try to reach a consensus in this regard,` a senior LDA official told Dawn on Thursday.

Besides restoration/beautification of these monuments, the construction of a 5-6km long lake near the tomb, installation of a chairlift to ease public access to the monuments over the river, an international standard cinema, a theme park, restaurants, museum comprising artifacts of Mughal era, recreational parks, jogging tracks, boating facility and other recreational schemes are the core activi-ties of the RRFUD project, which is being launched on the instructions of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

`A pre-feasibility study of the project has already been completed by a foreign consulting firm hired by the LDA. Now a detailed feasibility is being conducted which is about to be completed,` another ofhcialtold thisreporter.

He said completion of the project`s phase-1 would help the government market the whole project which needed over Rs1,000bn investments under the public-private partnership. The initially estimated over Rs8bn for completion of the RRFUD`s phase-1 would be shared by the both Federal and Punjab government equally, the official added. He said the LDA, Parks and Horticulture Authority(PHA) and the archeology department would jointly launch various construction/developmental activities and accomplish the task in a year or so.

`The archeology department and the PHA will undertake restoration/renovation of the tomb and beautification of the monuments` open areas and the adjacent ground with development of more parks and recreational facilities, respectively. The LDA will execute major works related to installation of the chairlift and construction of lake, etc,` the official added.

He said the tomb and the gardens were being planned to take a central place in the RRFUD project.

The official said the project`s phase-1 has been named as `Mughal Gateway Project`.