ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: Work on the extension of Federal Lodges Block-I has started and the project will be completed within a year with an estimated cost of Rs35.683 million.

Inaugurating the extension work here on Tuesday, Minister of State for Housing and Works Sardar Muhammad Asif Nakai said the government would not compromise on the quality of construction work, especially in housing sector.

Meanwhile, a source said the National Assembly Standing Committee on Facilities of MNAs had directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to establish offices for MNAs in the Federal Lodges.

The source said the MNAs had demanded of the government to provide them with at least one government office in Islamabad and one in their constituency. The MNAs, he said, had demanded that they should have their offices in the parliament building but their demand could not be met because the rooms were already occupied there.

The National Assembly has already passed a resolution on provision of two offices to each MNA - one in their constituency and the other in Islamabad. The source said the committee had directed the authority to immediately get the MNA Hostel vacated so that its rooms could be turned into offices for the MNAs.

The inaugural ceremony was also attended by Director-General Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD) Brig. Khalid Sohail Cheema and other officials of the department.

The minister said the government was committed to resolving the residential problems of the people and a number of steps were being taken in this regard. He asked the department concerned to complete the construction work in the given time frame.