BY HASEEB HAIDER
1 May 2005
ABU DHABI — Emaar Al Bilad Pakistan Ltd, a joint venture of real estate giant, Emaar Properties and Abu Dhabi-based Dhabi Group, is announcing a $200 million flag-ship real estate project in Lahore, Pakistan, an official said.
"In collaboration with the government of Punjab, we are developing a 45,000 square metres prime piece of land in the centre of the metropolis into a bustling city centre", said Bashir A. Tahir, CEO of Dhabi-Group, in an interview with Khaleej Times.
The project will include a 400-room five-star hotel, two multi-storied office buildings and a huge shopping mall," he said.
He said that an announcement will be made on May 12, in Lahore unveiling the project, while matters regarding the financing and project designs were being discussed at the moment.
About the Emaar Al Bilad Pakistan (Pvt) Limited, a joint venture company, Bashir said Dhabi Group has 70 per cent stake in the company, while remaining shares were owned by Emaar Properties.
Talking of Dhabi Group's telecom project, he said the Warid Telecom, which last year had won a license to operate a GSM mobile service would start its service from May 11, at a ceremony to be held in Islamabad.
Bashir said that to start with, the Warid Telecom will have a capacity of 1.5 connections with a network in 28 main cities. " Within the next two months, one million more connections would be added to the network with connectivity to 22-cities and by the year-end the mobile service would hook-up 100 cities, which none of the other competitors could have done in ten years of their existence," he said.
The company last year obtain $200 million loan from 18 Pakistani banks, to finance its network, after winning a license, at an auction for $291 million.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle...n=business&col=
but im getting a bit jealous of lahore and islamabad getting soo many projects, i want them all for karachi 
