PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has accelerated renovation and rehabilitation work in the Mughal era Shahi Bagh gardens that would be completed by March next year.
Talking to reporter, Engineer Muhammad Riaz of the local government and rural development department, who is supervising the uplift and renovation work on Shahi Bagh said work on the mega project including construction of ladies park has been expedited and hopefully would be opened for general public and tourists by March next year.
Established by Mughals and later developed by Durrani rulers, Shahi Bagh located on backside of Firdus bazaar at Fiqarabad area on Peshawar-Charsadda Road is currently undergoing through massive development, restoration and face uplift works launched by the incumbent government in October last year to restore its grandeur and make it again a centre of attraction for domestic and foreign tourists besides providing better recreational facilities to Peshawaritis.
He said in the first phase, all encroachments were removed from the historical garden and 121.75 kanal encroached lands of Shahi Bagh was reclaimed.
The reclaimed lands includes 24 kanals of the Pardah Bagh and a wedding hall, 34.75 kanal land of the Funland and 63 kanal used by Traffic Police for parking of impounded vehicles, he said, adding the total area of Shahi Bagh has now increased to 205 kanals.
Out of 121.7 kanal of reclaimed land, he said, 39.75 kanal was included in Shahi Bagh and 83 kanal allocated for developing a state-of the art Ladies Park.
The ladies’ park are being constructed with an estimated cost of Rs 179 million with all modern facilities including indoor and outdoor gyms, jogging tracks and separate playing area for children.
Muhammad Riaz said old fountains tiles were replaced with super white marble and electricity wires and motors were concealed underground to enhance beauty of the fountains and the park.
Work on improvement of jogging track, lawns and plantations have been completed and wooden benches, dustbins and new lighting system were put in place in the park besides development of a two kilometers soft jogging trail for senior citizens.
The park was originally built on 800 kanal land with lush green lawns, dense trees and fountains and was a boundless source of joy and laughter for Peshawaritis.
He said rehabilitation work was necessitated after its greenery started fading due to improper up-keeping, encroachment and urbanization.
Meanwhile, the refurbishing work on historic Wazir Bagh garden, which was started under Peshawar Development and Revival Plan last year by PTI Government, has almost been completed.
Walking tracks is refurbished and its lawns were made lush green besides a special corner for women and a cafeteria would facilitate tourists.
All four main enclosures of Wazir Bagh including pavilion, lawns, crisscrossing pavement and fountains’ pool is refurbished.
Slip roads are being constructed to ensure smooth flow of traffic on roads leading to Wazir Bagh and Shahi Bagh gardens for facilitation of tourists.
Similarly, problems of illegally installed billboards, debris buildings’ materials, encroachment, redundant poles, iron structures, rusted vehicles, dysfunctional streetlights, missing lane cat eyes, jumbled up wires of various utilities and poor civic conditions in vicinity of Wazir Bagh and Shahi Bagh gardens were being addressed to enhance its outlook.