The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has established Lahore Corner at its premises, an institutional platform for conducting and promoting systematic research on all problems confronting Lahore.
The LCCI President Mohammad Ali Mian inaugurated the corner on Wednesday while the President-elect Mian Muzaffar Ali, Senior Vice President-elect Tahir Javed Malik, Vice President-elect Irfan Iqbal Sheikh and a number newly elected Executive Committee members were also present on the occasion.
Lahore Corner, an initiative of newly elected executive committee members and Chairman LCCI Standing Committee on Lahore Vision 2015, Sardar Usman Ghani, was established with a view to encourage well thought-out and workable solutions for issues that are constraining the development of Lahore as a modern and dynamic urban economy.
However, all modern and thriving cities of the world are also maintaining a strong bond with their historical, cultural and architectural heritage. This is generally fading away in Pakistan and perhaps more so in the case of Lahore that is experiencing an unprecedented outward expansion to accommodate the ever-increasing influx of people wishing to live and work in this city.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Mohammad Ali Mian said that the thriving economy of the Lahore is at stake because of crumbling infrastructure, unplanned urban development and hazardous pollution. Above all, he said, the city's heritage is experiencing unforgivable neglect. There is a great danger that if the current trends in the development of Lahore go unchecked the city will soon loose its identity. It will neither look like a modern nor a historically well-preserved city as a great source of inspiration.
He said the fast increasing population and infrastructure bottlenecks are posing a major threat to economic well-being of its residents. The movement of people and goods across city is becoming and difficult, time-consuming and expensive. This can erode the economic competitiveness of the city, which will have adverse effects on the living-standards of its inhabitants.
He said that the above facts forced the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry to dedicate its resources for establishing Lahore Corner in its premises. This resource-centre will collect and store all the diverse and scattered information and data on Lahore. It will be a focal point for all sorts of research on Lahore. This is a unique and new concept in Pakistan. This new addition will also help the Chamber's Lahore Vision 2015 Standing Committee to effectively discharge its advisory role.