Parliament lodges in poor shape: NesPak chief

Senate panel expresses concern over condition of newly-constructed block

The condition of the nine blocks of the Parliament Lodges — meant to house lawmakers of the upper and lower house of parliament — is quite poor and in urgent need of repair with a complete overhaul requiring three years to complete.

This was disclosed as a Senate panel met to hear the report of a review undertaken by the national engineering company.

The Senate House Committee met at the conference hall of the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) with Senate Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwala in the chair.



During the meeting, Dr Tahir Masood, the managing director of the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NesPak), gave a briefing on the Parliament Lodges. The government-owned private engineering firm had been tasked with surveying the existing blocks and under-construction expansion sections of the lodges and present its report to the house on the issues there.

Dr Masood said that the Parliament Lodges were built in 1998 with 361 family suites spread over nine blocks. These suites had two-bedrooms each with a drawing room and a kitchen.

He added that these blocks were in poor condition with the ceilings leaking, the air conditioners were in a bad shape, the furniture is infested with termites and require repairs, the paint is peeling off the walls, the common rooms require extensive repairs, the floor is in poor condition, there is no effective planning for parking while entire colonies of rats inhabit the lodges.

The cafeteria too was in poor condition.

The NesPak MD said that a budget of Rs150-200 million is allocated for its upkeep. The Capital Development Authority (CDA), who is tasked with that, has a lower budget.

It was further revealed that the fire extinguishment system in the Parliament Lodges is in poor shape while the elevators in most of the blocks are dysfunctional.

Dr Masood suggested that if maintenance work is to be undertaken in the blocks, it should be done a block at a time. A pilot project can be launched in one of the blocks with a deadline to complete it in six months.



This way, he said, all the blocks can be overhauled by 2021.

At this, the committee’s chairman said that NesPak should be retained as a consultant and advisor on the project and submit recommendations to the committee by September 13 on how to go about the repairs.

Mandviwala said that if there is a need to amend the rules for this purpose, then this too could be done.

Briefing the committee about the construction of new blocks and servant quarters, the NesPak MD said that work on a block with 104 additional family suites and 500 servant quarters is continuing. The family suites are spread over 3.96 acres of land while the servant quarters are spread over 1.4 acres of land.

He added that the project concept-I (PC-I) for the project, worth Rs2.908 billion had been approved in 2010. The CDA had been named as the executing agency for the project which handed the construction contract to the Habib Rafique Company.

The committee was told that block E-5 has been completed and that lawmakers have already moved in.

At this, committee members Senator Kulsoom Parveen and Samina Saeed complained that this newly built block was not in a good shape either.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2018.