Education enclave: Mastung’s key education project plagued by delays

The provincial govt allocated Rs280 million for the project meant to be finished by June 2012

MASTUNG: Residents of Mastung have high hopes for the education enclave being constructed in the district, but the slow pace of work has started to disappoint many.

Mastung, one of 30 districts of Balochistan, is the electoral constituency of Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, who is also the chief of his tribe. This is why, residents say, there is no shortage of funds.

The ‘Education Enclave’, a crucial project for the local people, is said to cater to around 4,000 students from school to university level.  If the 28-acre project is completed it will be the first such initiative in the country.

The provincial government has allocated Rs280 million for the project, which is meant to be concluded by June 2012.

Local tribal elders have high hopes attached to the project, but are worried about the slow pace of work.  “Earlier everything was fine and the construction work was unexpectedly fast,” says local tribal elder Sardar Samandar Khan Shahi. “All we want is our next generation to be educated and competent enough to meet the challenges of the future.”

Some residents say that a blast at a football stadium in July that killed the chief minister’s teenage nephew has disturbed construction work. The project director was also the deputy commissioner of the district and on the demand of the victim’s father, Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, the commissioner was removed.

Mohammad Shahi and other local elders believe that if the education enclave is not completed during Nawab Raisani’s tenure, it may take another 10 years to finish or may not be completed at all.

The first school in Mastung, now called the Pilot High School, was set up in the early 1940s. Presently, the district has 300 primary schools of which 203 are for boys and 97 for girls. There are 22 middle schools; 11 each for both boys and girls.

For the population of over 200,000, there is only one state-run degree college for boys and an intermediate college for girls.

The chief minister has also set up a hospital and a digital library costing Rs15 million. However, both the projects are yet to be inaugurated or made functional.

“We know how projects are politicised when a new government takes charge,” Shahi said.

Former chief minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yusuf initiated a project to build a polytechnic college and Balochistan Residential College. Both projects were near completion but could not be finished because of a shortage of Rs10 million.

Despite the residents’ concerns, the new project director claims that the project will be completed soon. Deputy Commissioner Shah Irfan said efforts are under way to expedite the construction work, but failed to comment on the delay.

edited by Zehra Abid

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2011.