Much-delayed project: Outgoing CJP breaks ground for capital’s model jail

The stone-laying ceremony was deferred twice, first on September 10 and second time on December 10.

ISLAMABAD:

The outgoing top judge of the country finally broke the ground for the much-delayed first ‘model jail’ of the federal capital in sector H-16 on Wednesday.

The stone-laying ceremony was deferred twice, first on September 10, due to the failure of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in paying compensation to the affected people whose 90 acre land was acquired for constructing the jail and second time on December 10 due to busy schedule of CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

On Wednesday, the administration convinced him to perform the groundbreaking. The ceremony was attended by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Chief Justice Anwar Khan Kasi and other judges of IHC and subordinate courts. The project director briefed the Justice Chaudhry about the salient features of the prison.



The project will be completed in four years and will have a capacity to accommodate 40,000 prisoners. It will have 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 with basic facilities.

Currently, prisoners from Islamabad are kept at Adiala Jail as the capital has not its own jail. Because of lack of jail in Islamabad, it is becoming increasingly problematic for the Islamabad police to transport suspects to and from Rawalpindi after court hearings. At present, about 1,500 under-trial prisoners in Islamabad courts are detained in Adiala and other jails in nearby cities.

However, an official in CDA said the main hurdle in initiating work on the project is the CDA’s inability to hand over the land to the interior ministry.

The project to establish the model jail in H-16 sector was initiated approved in 2008, at a cost of Rs1.2 billion, and the interior ministry had already released Rs13 million to start work on the project in 2011. It was agreed that the ministry would pay Rs720 million for a single block of 720 kanals for the facility.

The delay in payment is attributed to miscalculation of the rate of the land by the civic agency.

Initially the price of one kanal was calculated at Rs1 million and now the prices have increased.

Due to which the landowners demand more money and refused to hand over the possession of the site to the civic agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2013.