LAHORE: Managing Director Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) Lahore Ahmad Usman Javed visited Dhongi Ground Gulberg and MM Alam Road, inspecting two new flower shops under construction on MM Alam Road, according to an official statement issued by the Authority. Director Coordination Farah Deeba accompanied him.
The Managing Director was informed during a briefing that construction of the shops on MM Alam Road has entered its final stages. He directed that the construction work be completed at the earliest and that the quality of material used during construction be ensured.
Ahmad Usman Javed said the auction process for the lease of the shops would be started soon, adding that the establishment of the flower shops would provide a facility to citizens.
He later visited Dhongi Ground Gulberg, where he inspected work on horticulture and various other projects under way at the site.
The Parks and Horticulture Authority is responsible for the development and upkeep of parks, green belts, roundabouts, roadside plantation and public open spaces across Lahore — a mandate that carries substantial recurring costs in irrigation, plant material, staff and maintenance equipment.
Leased commercial facilities such as flower shops, kiosks and canteens form part of the Authority’s own-source revenue, and the proceeds of lease auctions feed back into horticultural operations. That is why the Managing Director’s two directions on this site — build it quickly, and build it properly — carry a financial dimension as well as an aesthetic one: a poorly built outlet becomes a maintenance liability rather than a revenue stream.
MM Alam Road is among Lahore’s busiest commercial corridors, lined with restaurants and retail outlets and carrying heavy evening footfall. Formal, purpose-built flower outlets on such a strip serve a practical function beyond convenience: they give an existing informal trade a fixed, regulated location instead of pavement stalls that obstruct footpaths and parking.
Dhongi Ground in Gulberg is one of the neighbourhood open spaces the Authority maintains, and the inspection of horticultural work there falls within PHA’s core function. Lahore’s ratio of usable green space to population has come under sustained pressure from construction and road expansion, which places added weight on maintaining the ground-level parks that already exist.
No date has been announced for the completion of the shops or for the lease auction. Both the terms of the auction and the timeline for handing over the outlets will determine when the facility actually opens to citizens.
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