Bids invited for Pindi’s 100-bed hospital

Project to be completed in two years with Rs304.56m

RAWALPINDI: The project for a 100-bed hospital on Chakri Road inched forward as the district administration invited bids for the construction of the health facility.

The hospital in the suburban area of Jorain is expected to be completed in two years at an estimated cost of Rs340.56 million.

The healthcare facility is being constructed at the entry point of Rawalpindi city to reduce the influx of patients in the allied hospitals including Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital. Besides this, it will also help in job creation for the locals.

The auction committee of the district administration will award the contract to the selected bidder on June 3 through an open auction the district officials said and added that the work order for the general hospital would be released until June 30. Officials told that of these funds, Rs100 million have been earmarked for the procurement of medical devices, equipment, and machines.

The Punjab government had already transferred 93 kanals of its land to the hospital’s name as well. Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan would lay the foundation of the new 100-bed hospital in Jorian.

Sources in the district administration said that the general hospital will have at least three operation theatres (OTs), an emergency department, and an outpatient department (OPD). The hospital will also have a gynecological ward equipped with all the latest facilities required to take the best care of mother and child.

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that apart from this project, the government has prepared several other projects of 60 to 100 beds hospitals at all entry points of Rawalpindi.

Sarwar, who takes special interest in development projects in his home constituency, said the development of healthcare facilities in Rawat, Kahuta, and Murree would begin in the next fiscal year.

Pindi’s Ring road tender issued

The provincial government has approved issuing tenders to start development work on the Ring road immediately after Eidul Fitr.

Besides this, the government has also endorsed the plan for the mega project, expected to lift the local economy with industrial and commercial zones to be built along the road, the government officials said.

The tender is expected to be issued until July 10 after which the work order for the mega project would be released.

They added that the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar would lay the foundation of the Ring road project while after this development, the Rawalpindi administration has started preparations for the ceremony.

Aviation Minister Sarwar, MPA Haji Amjad and Punjab Education Foundation Chairperson Wasiq Qayyum confirmed the development while talking to The Express Tribune.

They said that the project was planned two decades ago but it could not proceed as it was mired in politics in the past. However, the incumbent government devised a strategy to resuscitate the project and complete it at the earliest as per its vision of serving people. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2020.