Lahore Nama

Searching for the city that was and that ought to be..
Goodbye, Walton
Posted on January 5, 2009 by ralam420 | 3 Comments

by Ahmad Rafay Alam

This summer I was the lucky recipient of a very special birthday gift: a charter flight over Lahore. I
recommend the experience to everyone, more so now, given the tale that is to tell.

While approaching the Walton Airport runway – Walton is Lahore’s original airstrip and is the home of the
erstwhile Lahore Flying Club (est. 1930) – and about where our tiny single-propeller Cessna, the Suzuki Alto
of the air, crossed Ferozepur Road, I noticed a very large ditch almost directly under the flight path.

The ditch is not actually just a ditch. It’s the foundations of the Mubaric Center (a.k.a. Sheikh Zayed Centre),
the $1.2-billion real-estate joint venture between the Government of Punjab and the Abu Dhabi Group.
According to a Wikipedia profile, the observation deck of Tower 1 will afford views of the nearby Golden
Temple in Amritsar (“on clear days”). The tower’s total height will be, bless Allah, will be no less than a
very patriotic 1947 feet.

I asked our pilot and co-pilot whether permission to build sky scrapers next to an airstrip approach path was
normal. Apparently, it isn’t. Apparently, the standard operating procedure is to refer the matter to the local
aviation authority for their permission. Apparently, our Civil Aviation Authority wasn’t informed of the
Government of Punjab’s commercial enterprise on Ferozepur Road until it was too late.

That’s when the penny dropped. There was no way a $1.2-billion international government joint-venture was
going to be thrown off course by a handful of Cessnas and a couple of flying clubs. Also, the army has Askari
Housing on one side of the runway and the Air Force has its high-end Falcons’ Enclave on the other. A third
side fronts Lahore’s Main Boulevard and is, according to reporter Abdul Sattar Khan writing in this
newspaper (Jan 1), worth “billions of rupees” (“Punjab govt cancels plan for Walton land’s commercial use.”
Obviously, the immense value of the acreage would make anyone who could claim title around the runway
a very tidy windfall profit. The forces that shape our cities do not stand for sentimentality. Goodbye, Walton,
I said as we disembarked.

There was a news report published in this paper on May 2 last year (“Many vie to grab prized Walton
Aerodrome land”), which set out the facets of this conspiracy theory. Since then, Walton Airport has got little
or no press coverage. That is, until last week.
Last week’s newspapers inform us that the Government of Punjab just cancelled the lease it had given the
Civiil Aviation Authority over much of the Walton Airport’s hundreds of acreas. It seems the Government
of Punjab has taken exception to the Civil Aviation Authority’s purported plans to relocate the flying clubs
and Cessnas to the Allama Iqbal International Airport and use the remaining real estate for some commerical
venture or the other. It seems the Government of Punjab has other plans for this prime real-estate.

According to the Secretary Colonies (interviewed by Abdul Sattar Khan), the “use of the land for commercial
purposes is not necessarily the only option under . . . consideration, as there may be other choices under
discussion, including the launch of public welfare projects like schools, hospitals and parks.” What a good
idea. Meanwhile, I urge anyone who hasn’t to get a charter flight under their belt as soon as possible and as
long as the flying clubs are still located at Walton.

There’s another 22 acres of land located just off Lahore’s Waris Road that could do with something new as
well. In May of last year, the Ministry of Defence published invitations for bids for the Birdwood Barracks
property, or Qila, and offered the property as “Prime Land Located in the Heart of Lahore.” Proceeds were
to go towards financing the construction of the GHQ in Islamabad. But that plan was also scrapped late last
year because, one assumes, it looks bad if the military goes on spending like it’s going out of style while the
rest of the country faces electricity, gas, fuel and water shortages.

According to a jamabandi I have, this land belongs to the federal government and was leased to the Mehkma
Infantry before 1925. A more recent Khasra Emarti corroborates this. Both mention that part of the land was
to be used for parks. Our armed forces, no longer having any use for this land located in the heart of an older,
more glorious, Lahore, decided to auction its leasehold rights for a reserve price of Rs500 million. Since this
22-acres was off the main road and surrounded by residential houses, no developer was willing to take the
risk of investing in it, especially given today’s real-estate climate. It attracted no bidders and remains a vacant
lot in the heart of the city.

A word about parks. Urban planning professionals I speak to often remind me that the necessary ingredients
to a minimum level of habitation are housing, sanitation, employment, and education and healthcare facilities.
Without these ingredients, any human habitation will lose its vibrancy, become sterile and head towards
blight, or worse. In the cities of today’s developing world, I will add another necessary ingredient: recreation.
A human habitation is not liveable unless and until it provides its residents a reasonable amount of
recreational facilities.

It is estimated that Lahore’s population is somewhere in the region of eight million. According to last year’s
Punjab Economic Survey, half the people who live in our urban areas live in slums. Lahore may get off lucky
in this one instance (its total slum dwelling are no more than 20 percent of the population), but consider the
many millions who work and toil all day, returning home each night. For these voiceless millions, there are
no public spaces, no museums, no art galleries, no affordable and clean restaurants, no golf & country clubs
and very, very few parks. The Lahore parks and gardens were Colonial constructs that have been
systematically dismantled by private sector forces and government negligence and inaction. For the voiceless
millions, life is nothing but a commute from home to work and back; and that too through record levels of
congestion, and air, sewage and noise pollution. It is not an enviable living.

The Chief Minister has been making noises, all reported in the press, of how his government will provide
parks to the people of Lahore. These public parks are the recreational facilities that are needed to make this
city more liveable and to create a sense of community. The Walton Airport property and the Birdwood
Barracks both present him with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to create public parks in the centre of Lahore.
Such opportunities will never come up in the future and the price of land prohibits the government acquiring
it to build public parks.

Meanwhile, farewell Walton Airport. It is sad to see a city landmark offered up to sacrifice before the Powers
That Be, but one has to look at the airport in the context of today’s city. Walton has ceased being relevant to
today’s Lahore and will pay the ultimate price for doing so. Such changes are part of the natural evolution of
a city. One just hopes that its memory can be properly preserved so that its role in the history of the city and
country (it was the airstrip Muhammad Ali Jinnah used when he first arrived in an independent Lahore) can
be preserved
Many Vie To Grab Prized Walton Aerodrome Land

Fri May 02, 2015

LAHORE: Multi-pronged legal and technical problems are proving a stumbling block in the way of
converting the Walton Aerodrome (airport) Lahore, spreading over hundreds of acres of land, into multi
billion-rupee commercial centre.

The proposed shifting of flying operations from Walton Aerodrome to Allama Iqbal International Airport is
aimed at selling the entire Walton land in the open market or using the land for commercial purposes. The
estimated earning will easily touch billions and billions of rupees since the land is located at the edge of the
Main Gulberg Boulevard and is situated exactly between the two commercially viable housing schemes,
Askari Villas governed by Pakistan Army and Falcon Society governed by Pakistan Air Force (PAF). At the
moment, the land covering the entire Walton Aerodrome is more than 200 acres.

Documents available on the issue revealed that the proposed shifting of flying operations from Walton
Aerodrome will remain an idea existing only on papers while on ground these problems are required to be
resolved with a magic wand which, at the moment, is not available with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

An in-depth study brings to surface the major problem in using Walton Aerodrome for commercial purpose
is that there are hundreds of claimants to the prized land, including Pakistan Army, PAF and the Punjab
government as well as many individuals.

Presently, out of 200 acres of Walton land, around 109 acres land is owned by the Punjab government but
was leased out to the CAA only for the purpose of flying operations at the Walton Aerodrome.

As per policy, this portion of land can be used only for flying operations and it cannot be used for any other
purpose under the lease rules. It is strongly believed that any number of negotiations with the Punjab
government by the CAA will not convince the former to allow the land to be used for commercial purposes.
This would involve many legal complications and lure others to follow suit. It would be in order to state that
lease agreement between CAA and Punjab has already expired and official correspondence is going on for
renewal of the same.

Similarly, many individuals, particularly those who had once filed court cases being genuine claimants, will
emerge on the scene dragging the CAA into another round of legal battles. It is worth mentioning that Walton
Aerodrome was considered for closure in the Nineties, which resulted in claims in shape of court cases for
restoration of CAA-acquired land to their original land owners. The cases were about to be decided in favour
of claimants when under the directive of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif the operational status of the
aerodrome was restored in 1997. It will be more disturbing for the CAA that the prime minister's directive is
still effective. In this connection, approximately 85 acres of land will be reclaimed by their original owners
as and when the flying activities are closed.

There is another side of the episode. Without going into deep study of the land intricacies, the CAA singed
land exchange deals with Pakistan Army which have become infructuous due to expiry of lease of provincial
land. It appears that final exchange of land is yet to be concluded among the CAA, the Army and the Punjab
government.

Moreover, the CAA is also considering another exchange deal with the Army at the Allama Iqbal
International Airport, Lahore, in lieu of Walton land. In case, the exchange of land is materialised with the
Army, the Pakistan Army will most probably expand the existing boundaries of the adjacent Askari Villas
Housing Scheme in the shape of Askari Villas Phase-II. In such an eventuality, the PAF may also demand to
be compensated as on the one side of the Walton land, the PAF-owned Falcon Colony exists, which the PAF
would love to expand.

Many believe that the proposal of converting the Walton Aerodrome into a business or commercial hub has
its origin in the fear of losing substantial part of the Walton land to other powerful organs of the government,
as during the last three decades, the CAA's land holding had reduced to just 200 acres from the earlier 696
acres.

Out of the total land holding of 696 acres, 281 acres was owned by the CAA while the remaining 415 acres
was leased out to the CAA by the Punjab government. As per the record available with The News, way back
in 1971, the Army acquired 95.62 acres of land while in the same year PAF also acquired 168.28 acres. In
1993, Army Directorate of Housing (ADH) acquired 101.82 acres of land; in 1995 Pakistan Navy acquired
25.52 acres; 102 acres of land was declared Katchi Abadis in 1998-99. The land acquired by the Army
Directorate of Housing (ADH) and PAF were the land where the Army and the PAF built Askari Villas and
Falcon Housing Scheme respectively.

Beside acquisition of land by CAA and other government organs, 20 acres disputed land is in the possession
of private nurseries and Saint Mary Park on Main Boulevard Gulberg is covering 13 acres of land while
another seven acres have been acquired by the LDA for the construction of Gulberg Road, Main Boulevard.
While the issue concerning 20 acres of disputed land occupied by private nurseries owners, the CAA is
negotiating with the LDA and the Punjab government for compensation or land exchange, keeping in view
the commercial rates in lieu of 13 acres of Saint Mary Park and seven acres on which the LDA constructed
the Gulberg Road Main Boulevard.

In addition, the CAA documents also project another piece of around 19 acres of land which as per the CAA
claims has been occupied illegally by the PAF. Few years back, the PAF allegedly took over 11.21 acres of
land while few months back another 8 acres of land was allegedly grabbed by the PAF.

The latest case of alleged illegal occupation of 8 acres of land equivalent to 62 kanals is carrying two
interesting aspects. First both the CAA and PAF opted for illegal course for transferring the land of CAA to
PAF for the extension of Falcon Housing Scheme, while in the second leg the PAF allegedly encroached
upon 62 kanals of land more than the agreed and prescribed. Sensing the gravity of the situation, the
concerned section of CAA has taken up the issue with the CAA high ups urging them to get back the
possession of the additional 62 kanals of land from PAF.

Though an attempt of minor intensity was made by the CAA officials to convince the PAF officials not to
construct boundary wall beyond the permitted limit, the determined PAF officials did not take them seriously
and completed the boundary wall till the end of the nurseries situated right at the main boulevard road of
Gulberg, documents available on the issue reveal.

When this point was raised with the PAF officials, the Director PAF Media Affairs, Air Commodore Sarfraz
Khan did not see any foul play and told this correspondent that this is not a newsworthy subject as such things
happens hundreds of times in a day and very common in official functioning. "Such formalities are often
sorted out within days or so," he added.

As per the claim of Pervez George, the official mouthpiece of CAA, "DG CAA constituted a team to look
into the matter afresh and try to resolve the issue and efforts will be made to include the representatives of
Pakistan Air Force for the purpose of resolving the issue as per the book."

Coming to other contents of the proposals, various options are being explored as to how the current flying
operations/activities will be shifted to Allama Iqbal International Airport without irritating the other
stakeholders, particularly the Army and the PAF.
As per options contained in the proposal, out of seven operators based at Walton, the Lahore Flying Club
(LFC) may be accommodated on taxiway "K", east of VIP Hangar. Taxiway "K" will have to be rehabilitated
or an alternate link to be provided with taxiway "H". Height of VIP hangar will be restricted to 35 feet. All
other operators excluding Ultra Sports Flying Club (USFC) may be allocated area south of terminal building
of Lahore airport. Taxi link will have to be provided joining taxiway "Q". Internal road access will be
available to all operators. Training flights at Lahore airport will be accommodated subject to scheduled flights
and other flights as per the priority fixed in MATS Pakistan. Touch and go flights may be accommodated at
Faisalabad to have maximum flying time.

In case of Ultra Sports Flying Club (USFC), the USFC aircraft cannot be accommodated at Lahore airport
keeping in view the operating efficiency of Ultra-light aircraft so the USFC may be shifted to some other
location at their own arrangements, out of Lahore circuit, and take-off/landing path of both runways. Case
for allocating an airspace and height bound will be considered by CAA later on.

However allocation of certain areas at Lahore airport to various operators is required an NOC from PAF as
the areas falls within the PAF jurisdiction. In this regard the Air Headquarters Islamabad had already
informed the CAA "not to hand over PAF land to any other department/organization or allow its utilisation
for any commercial venture without written consent of PAF." Moreover, it has also cautioned the CAA that
"the requests from private companies/organizations to acquire space for their own operation at PAF base
Lahore and other Joint User Airfields (JUA) may not be entertained, instead they may be directed to approach
CAA for allocation of space at their (CAA) area of control." Last time on the advice of Ministry of defence,
the PAF had handed over an area of 300' x 300' space to government of Punjab for construction of their own
hangar for the VIP fleet of government of Punjab.

Source: TheNews