which was making the authorities concerned to first prepare a proper feasibility report to avoid embarrassments and glitches.

“Launching the pilot project of the multi-million dollar programme was an emotional decision made without a properly updated feasibility report. Now, the donor (World Bank) is forcing the authorities concerned to complete the necessary homework before embarking upon its execution,” official sources informed.

They said because of the “WB condition” the actual execution of the project might start by the end of December this year. “They want us to launch the project their style and not ours,” they said.

The sources said the authorities handling the project had based the project on a feasibility report made by the World Bank through an Italian expert in 2005. But, now the bank had declared it a `pre-feasibility’ report after noticing many changes which had taken place in the Walled City over the years, they said. It had also found certain `facts’ to be different from those mentioned in the report, they added.

The project is being funded by the World Bank and the Punjab government is also going to sign an agreement with the Aga Khan Foundation to make it another development partner.

They said the pre-feasibility report had indicated the construction of a 500-vehicle parking plaza outside Delhi Gate but now it had been transpired that the structure would not be feasible because of the likely damage to the historic gate and its surroundings.

The World Bank was now making the authorities concerned to also conduct a study on the project to assess its socio-economic impact on the people living or doing business in the Walled City.

The major issue was the re-settlement of legal and illegal occupants of structures erected over the years, particularly in front of historic places like the Shahi Hamam, Wazir Khan’s Mosque, Soneri Mosque and Bohli Bagh. And this would be done under a carefully chalked out programme based on a fresh study, focusing on how to properly compensate those affected by the project, the sources said.

They said the new idea evolved on the basis of the on-going study was to construct a shopping plaza outside Delhi Gate to shift 136 traders now occupying shops in front of the Shahi Hamam and Wazir Khan’s Mosque to restore the original structure of the monuments.

They said the study also included a topographic survey and checking of the 100-year-old map of the Walled City, with suggestions how to restore it while clearing the encroachments without annoying the occupants.