Rawalpindi: Cantonment Library’s renovation work completed

[Naveed Yaseen]

Saeed Ahmed
The Rawalpindi Cantonment (Board RCB) has completed renovation and expansion work of the Cantonment Public Library.

Director General Military Lands and Cantonment Wajahat Ali Mufti inaugurated the new one-storey block of the library. With the renovation and expansion of the block, the RCB also opened a way for the visitors from outside the board office. According to the library officials, the new block has been opened for children to read fiction books. He added that the library will be further expanded for which efforts are underway to get the portion of Odeon Cinema which at present is closed because of poor business.

The Lahore High Court had directed the RCB to utilise the land of Odeon Cinema for the purpose. Following the orders of the court, the RCB has decided to revamp the building of the cinema and convert it to another Cineplex for which negotiations are under way with the ML&C. Besides converting the cinema into Cineplex, the RCB has decided to utilise the remaining portion for building a shopping complex. The completion of the project will help the board generate huge revenue.

According to officials, several private entrepreneurs are in constant touch with the RCB authorities demanding the provision of land of Odeon Cinema for working on the project. In this connection, the private firms are expressing their consent to pay a huge amount of Rs2.5 million annually to the RCB.

As the process of the court has been completed after its verdict over the matter, the RCB has completed 90 per cent work on it. The owner has also vacated the cinema.

The official spokesman of the RCB also confirmed the report that the process for converting the Odeon Cinema into Cineplex and shopping centre is under way. Moreover, work for expanding the building of library up to Odeon Cinema is also under process, he added.

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