Capital’s model jail: Groundbreaking may hit snag as architect cites cost escalation
Submits new proposal for five per cent budget increase.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the capital’s 'model jail' may hit snag as architect cites cost escalation. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The groundbreaking ceremony for the capital’s “model jail”, which the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration plans to hold in December, may hit a snag as the architect has demanded a five per cent increase in the budgeted cost.
Sources said that the architecture firm, Sikandar Anjum, which had been shortlisted and awarded the bid by a five-member jury in the first week of November after beating four other firms, has said that construction cost would be five per cent beyond the budgeted Rs1.2billion.
This cost escalation has put the ICT administration in a fix, as it had wanted Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to perform the groundbreaking on December 10, a day before he retires.
“The ICT administration is trying to convince the firm to work within the estimated cost as it is in not ready to accept their demand and put an extra burden on the national kitty,” sources said.
“If the administration accepts the firm’s demand, it would be a violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules,” the sources said.
The five-member jury which had awarded the bid to Sikandar Anjum included Islamabad High Court Registrar Meeran Jan Kakar, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Jawad Paul and three architects — Dr Tauseef Ahmed, Liaquat Ali Abbasi, and Jehangir Sher Pao.
In 2008, the federal government approved the plan to build a prison in Sector H-16 at cost of Rs1.2 billion. The interior ministry has already released Rs13 million to start work on the project. The proposed jail will house 40,000 prisoners and come equipped with a 22-bed hospital, a school for the children of the jail staff, a mosque, a library, an auditorium, segregated cells and separate barracks for women and juvenile prisoners.
Currently, Adiala Jail is housing Islamabad’s share of prisoners as the capital has no jail. The ICT administration also wants its own jail as it is becoming increasingly problematic for the police to transport suspects to and from Rawalpindi after court hearings. At present, about 1,500 prisoners under trial in Islamabad courts are detained in Adiala and other jails in nearby cities.
Earlier, the ICT administration had announced the groundbreaking would be performed on September 10, but could not do so as the CDA had failed to compensate the affected people.
Islamabad Chief Commissioner Jawad Paul could not be contacted despite repeated attempts on his cell phone.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2013.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the capital’s “model jail”, which the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration plans to hold in December, may hit a snag as the architect has demanded a five per cent increase in the budgeted cost.
Sources said that the architecture firm, Sikandar Anjum, which had been shortlisted and awarded the bid by a five-member jury in the first week of November after beating four other firms, has said that construction cost would be five per cent beyond the budgeted Rs1.2billion.
This cost escalation has put the ICT administration in a fix, as it had wanted Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to perform the groundbreaking on December 10, a day before he retires.
“The ICT administration is trying to convince the firm to work within the estimated cost as it is in not ready to accept their demand and put an extra burden on the national kitty,” sources said.
“If the administration accepts the firm’s demand, it would be a violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules,” the sources said.
The five-member jury which had awarded the bid to Sikandar Anjum included Islamabad High Court Registrar Meeran Jan Kakar, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Jawad Paul and three architects — Dr Tauseef Ahmed, Liaquat Ali Abbasi, and Jehangir Sher Pao.
In 2008, the federal government approved the plan to build a prison in Sector H-16 at cost of Rs1.2 billion. The interior ministry has already released Rs13 million to start work on the project. The proposed jail will house 40,000 prisoners and come equipped with a 22-bed hospital, a school for the children of the jail staff, a mosque, a library, an auditorium, segregated cells and separate barracks for women and juvenile prisoners.
Currently, Adiala Jail is housing Islamabad’s share of prisoners as the capital has no jail. The ICT administration also wants its own jail as it is becoming increasingly problematic for the police to transport suspects to and from Rawalpindi after court hearings. At present, about 1,500 prisoners under trial in Islamabad courts are detained in Adiala and other jails in nearby cities.
Earlier, the ICT administration had announced the groundbreaking would be performed on September 10, but could not do so as the CDA had failed to compensate the affected people.
Islamabad Chief Commissioner Jawad Paul could not be contacted despite repeated attempts on his cell phone.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2013.