Islamabad: Saidpur Village project likely to be completed next month

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISLAMABAD: The Saidpur Village reflecting traditional ambience of Potohar will be turned into a large tourist resort. CDA Director Sanaullah Aman told this news agency that extensive work was going on at the village to complete the project in the coming month. He said renovation work of centuries old Saidpur Village was being completed to restore the buildings to their original look with an emphasis on preserving and enhancing the Pakistani culture. The village will showcase arts and crafts of the provinces at one place and provide visitors a snapshot of the country’s cultural diversity, he added. The temple, museum, stones used on the walls, the horse-drawn carts and everything in the historic village shows the essence of Potohar region. “Only buildings of concrete substance can never attract tourist, unless it has the facilities to capture tourists attention,” said Aman. The entire village would be of great interest to visitors. To draw particular attention, an orphanage was given the status of a museum that was decorated with pictures from the past. Pictures of Islamabad in its infancy, mostly black and white, adorn the four walls of the museum and all of its exciting firsts. From the town’s first baby Mahpara, who was born at Polyclinic, to the first market and from the first double-decker bus to the maiden tree planted at the Shakarparian Hills by Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-Lai, everything has been preserved in photos at the museum. He said that the authority would also set up food courts and tourist restaurants to provide traditional and fast food variety to the visitors besides establishing coffee shops. app

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