Faisalabad, (فيصل آباد) formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan. The city was renamed “Faisalabad” in honour of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia.
Also known as the Manchester of Pakistan, Faisalabad remains an important industrial city west of Lahore. The city-district of Faisalabad is bound on the north by the districts of Hafizabad and Chiniot, on the east by Nankana Sahib, on the South-East by Okara, on the South Sahiwal & Toba Tek Singh, and on the west by Jhang.
The city is at a road and railway junction, which has played an influential role in the development of Faisalabad’s trade and economy. The surrounding countryside, irrigated by the Lower Chenab River, has seen expanded production of cotton, wheat, sugarcane, vegetables, and fruits, which form 55% of Pakistan’s exports. The city is an industrial centre with major railway repair yards, engineering works, and mills that process sugar, flour, and oil seed. Produce includessuperphosphates, cotton and silk textiles, hosiery, dyes, industrial chemicals, beverages, apparels, pulp and paper, printing, agricultural equipment, and ghee (clarified butter). Faisalabad is the site of the prestigious University of Agriculture, founded in 1909.
The city has a large retail sector, including shopping centres, plazas and eight bazars (roads) each known for different category of goods.
Faisalabad stands in the rolling flat plains of northeast Punjab, between longitude 73°74 East, latitude 30°31.5 North, with an elevation of 184 metres (604 ft) above sea level. The city proper covers an area of approximately 1,230 square kilometres (470 sq mi), while the district covers more than 16,000 square kilometres (6,200 sq mi).
There are no natural boundaries between Faisalabad and adjoining districts. The Chenab River flows about 30 km (19 mi) to the north-west while the River Ravi meanders about 40 km (25 mi) south-east of the city. The lower Chenab canal is the main source of irrigation water, which meets the requirements of 80% of cultivated land. The soil of Faisalabad comprises alluvial deposits mixed with loess having calcareous characteristics, making it very fertile.
Due to its high evapotranspiration, Faisalabad features a hot desert climate (BWh)[8] in Köppen-Geiger classification. The climate of the district can see extremes, with a summer maximum temperature 50 °C (122 °F) and a winter temperature of −2 °C (28 °F). The mean maximum and minimum temperature in summer are 39 °C (102 °F) and 27 °C (81 °F) respectively. In winter it peaks at around 17 °C (63 °F) and 6 °C (43 °F) respectively. The summer season starts from April and continues until October. May, June and July are the hottest months. The winter season starts from November and continues until March. December, January and February are the coldest months. The average yearly rainfall lies only at about 300 mm (12 in) and is highly seasonal with approximately half of the yearly rainfall in the two months July and August.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers study released in 2009, surveying the 2008 GDP of the top cities in the world, calculated Faisalabad’s GDP (PPP) at $14 billion. The city was third behind Karachi ($78 billion) and Lahore ($40 billion). Faisalabad’s GDP is projected to rise to $87 billion in 2025 at a growth rate of 5.7%, higher than the growth rates of 5.5% and 5.6% predicted for Karachi and Lahore.
The textile industry of Faisalabad constitutes more than 65% of the textile export market of Pakistan, which itself forms 58% of total exports from Pakistan. This makes Faisalabad’s share of total exports from Pakistan more than 40%.
In 2005, Faisalabad was reorganized as a City-District composed of eight autonomous towns:
Faisalabad is famous for its textiles
| City | Region | Country | Year |
| Manchester | England | United Kingdom | 1997 |
| Kobe | Hyōgo Prefecture | Japan | 2000 |
| Los Angeles | California | United States | 2009 |
| Wuhan | Hubei | China | 1986 |
| Saint Petersburg | Saint Petersburg1 | Russia | 1962 |
| Córdoba | Andalusia | Spain | 1986 |
| Kanpur | Uttar Pradesh | India | 1970 |
The city of Faisalabad carried out a census in March 1981 which showed the population of Faisalabad city as 1,092,000, which indicates that growth rate of Faisalabad city is only 3.37 percent per annum. In April 1981 the surveywas carried out again which recorded the population to 1,232,000 which made the growth rate approximately 4.6%. Given this growth rate, the population at the end of 1981 was estimated to be 1,240,000.
The emergence of Faisalabad as a major agriculture and industrial center created a great increase in the city’s population. From a population of 69,930 in 1941, it rose to 179,000 in 1951, an increase of 152.2% this was mainly due to the settlement of Muslim refugees from East Punjab and Haryana who came from India and settled in Faisalabad. The population rose to a future figure of 425,248 in 1961, an increase of 137.4%. Faisalabad became a record in the demographic history for Pakistan by registering an overall population increase of 508.1% between 1941 and 1961. This record has never been matched by the largest city of Pakistan.[12][13]
The religion of a majority of Faisalabadites is Islam with small minorities of Sikhs, Christians and Ahmadis. Majority of Muslimsbelong to Sunni Hanafi school of thought with a significant minority of Shiites.
The culture of Faisalabad is quite diverse because it is an industrial city and people from all over Pakistan come to the metropolitan area to work in factories.
British built Gumti Water Fountainand the Qaisery Gate, the entrance to the Eight Bazaars
Sport
Cricket, The most popular sport in Pakistan, is the most popular sport in the city. It is played anywhere a city dweller will find a large piece of land. This is known as Bat aur Gendh. It is played in the narrow by-lanes of the city. Night-time cricket can be seen at weekends when people play brightly lit matches on less-traversed city streets, disused construction sites, parks and several grounds in the district. The oldest and only venue for international cricket matches is Iqbal Stadium. The Faisalabad Wolves, Faisalabad’s local team, are based at this venue and often regional matches are played throughout the spring season which draws in plenty of crowds such as Faysal Bank T20 Cup. The ground hosted matches for the 1987 Cricket World Cup as well as the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
Other popular sports in the city are hockey, Weightlifting, association football, Kabaddi, table tennis, billiards and snooker, squash, and horse racing. Sports like badminton, volleyball, swimming, Boxing and basketball have started to gain popularity as western influences have affected the locals. Faisalabad has its own team, called the PMC FC who take part in the Pakistan Premier League. ThePunjab Medical College has its own stadium built on its campus to train and host matches for the sport.
The city has facilities for hockey. The Faisalabad Hockey Stadium on Susan Road mostly hosts field hockey matches for most national and some international matches. The stadium has plenty of shops and restaurants which bring a lot of life to the area. A new sports complex is being planned to host athletic and gymnastic matches as well as Olympic training for future Pakistan participation.
PMC Club Athletico Faisalabad is the city’s only participant in the Pakistani Premier Football League. Athletico’s city rival Panther FC plays in the 2nd Division of Pakistani Football pyramid.
Education
National Textile University, Faisalabad
Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad Campus
Health care[edit]
Health care services are provided to the citizens by both public and private sector hospitals. The government run hospitals areAllied Hospital, DHQ Hospital, PINUM Cancer Hospital, Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology (FIC) and General Hospital Samanabad.[16] The Private sector also operates Hospitals, Clinics and Laboratories notably St.Raphael’s Hospital, Sahil Hospital, National Hospital, Faisal Hospital, Aziz Fatima Hospital, Chiniot Hospital, Falah E Millat Hospital, Iqbal Welcare Hospital and Al-Rahmat Laboratories.[17][18]
Transport[edit]
The State Life Building – Faisalabad Zone
Faisalabad International Airport is approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the city centre and is a major transit point for exporting goods to other parts of Pakistan and abroad. As of August 2014 passenger flights are run by Pakistan International Airlines, and Shaheen Air used to operate from the airport but have suspended operations from Faisalabad. Flights for some domestic and some international destinations are available from the airport. Major flying within Pakistan is towards Karachi, whereas major international destinations are Dubai, Jeddah and Glasgow.
Bus rapid transit[edit]
The government of Punjab has planned to built a bus system in Faisalabad similar to Lahore’s Metrobus The Federal and Provincial Government is planning to Build MetroBus route and system in Faisalabad just like in Lahore already operational.
The National Highway Authority has rebuilt and improved the standards of roads to meet international standards and improve logistical networks for freight companies. There is a public bus network Brothers Metro (BM) a consortium between govt of Punjab and Private firm operating aircondition CNG buses. As well as private coaches within the city and many privately operated auto-rickshaws and taxis to get around the city.
There are many highways under the control of the National Highway Authority, linking Faisalabad with other cities of the country. The M3 access-controlled motorway connects Faisalabad with the motorway M2 near Pindi Bhattian which furthermore connects with Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Lahore and Multan. There is an expressway which connects Faisalabad with Lahore, Sheikhupura and Mananwala. The city is connected with Sargodha by a highway known as the Sargodha-Faisalabad road. Furthermore, motorway M4 is also under construction which will connect Faisalabad with Multan. The newly furnished Grand, otherwise known as GT Road, is a popular highway that links most parts of Pakistan as well as neighboring countries. There are several bus operators that offer quick services to the provincial capital, Lahore, as well asIslamabad, Jhang, Multan, Peshawar, Karachi and several smaller localities.
The Faisalabad railway station was built in 1896 during British rule. Today there are connections available to all parts of Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan,Quetta, and Peshawar.
Media
The Daily Express, and Daily Dunya are the national newspaper published from Faisalabad. (The Daily Asas used to publish from Faisalabad; it is now published elsewhere.) It is the product of Express Media Group, largely circulating in the Faisalabad Division. The Daily Express started publishing in Faisalabad on 17 September 2002. There are other popular Urdu Faisalabadi newspapers including Daily Permanent News-Declaration cancelled on 25 April 2014, Daily Shelter, Daily Awam, Daily Aman,Daily Tajarti Rahber, Daily Paygaam, Daily Business Report, Daily Report and the Daily Surrat-E-Haal.
Cinemas have fallen in number in the city since the ban on most Bollywood films. The lack of interest in English and Lollywood-related films has caused many cinema halls to close down and many owners to invest in other forms of entertainment. Punjabi stage dramas are still quite popular among Faisalabadis, and there are still some theatres operating quite successfully. There are many stars in Lollywood that hail from Faisalabad, which draws in the crowds from far and wide. Shows usually take place at night and involve a range of day-to-day topics as well as dances to many types of music from female artists.The DAWN Media Group. State-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) transmits five terrestrial and cable television channels. There also a number of private television channels that have offices in Faisalabad including Express News, Geo TV, Apna Channel andPunjab TV.
Weekly Lyallpur Akhbar is one of the oldest newspapers in district of Faisalabad. As a source of agriculture media this newspaper was established in 1933 and still serving rural and agriculture business communities. Their office is in Killa Gift Fund Trust Building, Inside District Courts of Faisalabad. Bashir Ahmad Mumtaz is publisher and editor of the newspaper.
The radio industry has expanded with a number of private and government-owned FM channels being introduced. The FM radio channels that broadcast in the city include the government-owned Radio Pakistan.
