Developing New Cities in Pakistan: River Ravi Urban Development Project

The River Ravi Urban Development Project is a multi-trillion mega project to develop a new city on the banks of river Ravi. The project, spanning over 40,000 hectares along the river Ravi, envisions a modern city with 12 sectors (residential, mixed-use, commercial, financial, innovation, medical, knowledge, sports, downtown, tourism, and urban farm), a 46-kilometer long clean water lake, and trees on 70 % of the land. 1.4 million housing units housing 35 million people are expected to ease pressure on the ever-expanding city of Lahore. A Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) was established to oversee the development of the city as “sustainable, livable and well-managed engines of economic growth”. Urban development and its management are critically linked with sound, comprehensive, and strategic metropolitan-level long-term planning. Under the RUDA Act of 2020, RUDA will facilitate quality execution of the Ravi Riverfront development project as per international standards.