December 12, 2002	Thursday	Shawwal 7, 1423

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RAWALPINDI, Dec 11: An overpayment of Rs5.7 million to the contractors has been detected in the construction of the under-completion nursing home-cum-teaching complex at the Holy Family Hospital, an investigation report revealed.

The scheme was originally approved in 1988 at a cost of Rs16.6 million and was to be completed in 18 months. However, the project still remains incomplete despite the passage of 14 years. An amount of Rs52.7 million has so far been paid to the contractors, whereas work on the project has been stalled since 2000.

Mentioning the wrong-doings in their report, the investigators said neither any record of the consumed articles had been maintained nor the record of the expenditure against the provision of contingency was available.

The inquiry revealed that the accounts of the contractor, who had left the work in 1997, were not finalized before awarding the contract to a new firm.

Identifying the major leftover work, it was stated that window panes on the third and fourth floors had to be fixed, flooring of a large area had yet to be laid, steel wardrobes of 2,985 sq ft had to be provided, electric fitting on third and fourth floors, sanitary fittings on second, third and fourth floors and gas appliances had to be fixed.

The securities deposited by the contractors with the government are not more than Rs0.4 million and not enough to get the remaining work completed.

The inquiry report, therefore, suggests that the defaulting firms should be first persuaded to complete the contract, however, if they fail to do so the revenue department should be instructed to make the recoveries from the assets of the defaulting firms.

It should be recalled that massive irregularities in the construction of the new block of the Rawalpindi Medical College Complex at the Holy Family Hospital had been earlier revealed.

A report about the irregularities in that project submitted by the director (Works), Punjab Building Department, to the provincial secretary communications and works had acknowledged the faults with a promise of rectification. But, so far nothing has been done in this regard.