ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman on Thursday ordered establishment of seven libraries in different sectors of the federal capital.

The HEC and Capital Development Authority (CDA) have recently reached an agreement to set up seven libraries in Islamabad to provide the people with an easy access to the facility and to promote reading habit among the masses, officials sources in the HEC told Dawn.

The sectors where the libraries will be built in the first phase are: Markaz G-9, Markaz G-10, Markaz F-11, sectors F-10/2, F-8/2, I-8/3 and I-8/4. This will be the first phase of the project which in future will be extended, they said.

In response to the commission's initiative, CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari has already provided plots at various locations for the project. The libraries will also cater for the needs of children where they could spend time while reading books of their interests.

The HEC has also decided that the Islamabad library project would be developed as a model to be followed by other schemes in rest of urban centres in the country. Dr Ata has also requested the CDA chairman to provide more sites for establishment of libraries in other sectors in phase-II of the project. The HEC is of the view that each sector should have at least one library, the sources said.

The decision to launch the project has been taken to promote the reading habit amongst people as a first step towards improving education standard in the country. It has also been envisaged to invite people on voluntary basis to help in the effective operation and maintenance of the libraries in their respective sub-sectors as is done in the US.

According to an official statement on Thursday, Dr Ata, who is also in charge ministry of science and technology, has announced that planetariums would be set up in all the provinces for educational purposes.

The decision was taken after the HEC took over the control of PIA's planetarium in Karachi. The planetarium has been made part of the University of Karachi keeping in view its importance.