Customary delays
Development projects at three public universities in Sindh have been stalled for the past several years, even though the government has made much of the funds available, a report in this newspaper reveals. These institutions have completed a mere 25% of the uplift schemes. This bears testament to the neglect of the two significant sectors of health and education in the province and the country.
At the Sindh Medical University, Karachi the construction of a girls’ hostel and the expansion of an administrative block has been facing delays for the past six years. In 2015, the total cost of the scheme had been estimated at Rs791 million. This year, the government has released Rs30 million out of the Rs130 million set aside for the project but it is yet to get off the ground, showing that the authorities have failed to grasp the importance of hostel accommodation for female students. Red tape appears to be playingThis situation forces many to go to foreign countries for education at greater expense. a role here. Despite the passage of six years, the university has not even opened a separate bank account for the project. Many female students at medical colleges are in need of hostel facilities because their families live either abroad or in rural areas.
The setting up of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Chair at Karachi University was announced in 2012 but the work on it stays suspended since 2017 due to want of adequate funds and bureaucratic wrangling over the appointment of a consultant for the project. Work on a planned sewerage scheme at Karachi University is going nowhere though the government has allocated Rs400 million for it. A scheme for the construction of an auditorium at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto University and for improving other facilities has met with the same fate. The university administration has utilised only Rs50 million out of the Rs104 million released for the purpose. Official explanations for the delays are unconvincing. There are many questions, but no answer.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 1st, 2021.
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