Imran Ismail went to Twitter today to announce that the first stage for the Ravi City Project is complete. According to the announcement, the development rights for Sapphire Bay, the name for the 1st phase of the Ravi city project, have been granted to Arif Habib & consortium.
The governor of Sindh added, “2000 Acres expected to generate business activity worth PKR 150 billion. Imran Amin chairman of RUDA(Ravi Urban Development Authority) and his team deserves appreciation. Sindh needs a similar project as Bundal Island is yet to be resolved.”
According to sources, the 2000 Acre RUDA Bid was opened on 28th May, with three bidders, including the, mentioned Arif Habib Javedan consortium, Bahria, and Lastly Matracon Pakistan Pvt. Ltd.
Great News for Pakistan! PTI govt & PM's @ImranKhanPTI vision of reducing dependency on foreign debt turns into success for local investors.1st stage of Sapphire Bay, the Ravi City Mega project concluded with Arif Habib & consortium winning developing rights to the inaugural zone
— Imran Ismail (@ImranIsmailPTI) May 29, 2021
The Arif Habib Javedan Consortium has the 15 Biggest corporate sector companies of Pakistan including Younas Group, Lucky Cement, Soorti Group, Liberty Group, Fatima Fertiliser Group, Ghani Glass, US Apparel Group, Haier Group, Sapphire Group, and Orient Group to name a few.
Reportedly, Arif Habib Javedan owns 51 percent of the consortium, and together the companies have decided to give Rs10.75 billion cash for this project and will give 15 percent developed residential and 15 percent developed commercial plots to RUDA.
The Second highest bidder Bahria bided Rs10.7 billion cash and 15.01 percent developed residential, and 11.01 percent developed commercial plots to RUDA.
The third bidder, namely Matracon, a construction company in Pakistan, bid Rs10.52 billion cash and 15.5 percent Residential and 11 percent Commercial developed plots to RUDA.
It is worth mentioning, Arif Habib Consortium that won the bid consists of Rs1 trillion public sector companies. The collection of companies in the consortium has an overall market cap of Rs1.5 trillion with 1 million direct employees.
About the First Phase
Sapphire Bay, the first phase of the upcoming Ravi City project, has an estimated revenue of 400 billion rupees across over 5,000 acres of land. Prime Minister Imran Khan conducted the Ravi Urban Development Project meeting in January, where discussions took place.
It was decided that out of 5,000 acres, 3,000 acres will be used for flood protection and the remaining 2,000 acres will be used for construction.
Read More: PM Khan: Ravi City, Bundle Islands projects to ameliorate economic conditions of people
The bids mentioned above were for the 2000 acre construction project and according to the winning bid, the project would now get Rs10.75 billion from the consortium along with 15 percent of both residential and commercial developed plots would be given to the authority from the group.
The Sapphire Bay aims to create a planned vibrant city on Ravi’s bed solving Lahore’s massive overpopulation problem and the environmental pollution problem all at once while attracting investment opportunities to make the place an economic hub of the city.