LAHORE, July 21: The Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) has requested the Punjab University to extend the lease of its 12 acres as well as revise the 1987 agreement to provide it more university land.

The request was made by Suparco officials at a meeting with the PU faculty members, chaired by vice-chancellor Arshad Mahmood, here on Friday. Institute of Geology director Prof Dr Naseer Ahmad, space science department chairman Dr Muhammad Ali, Centre for Solid State Physics director Dr Nazima Ikram, besides Suparco officials Tauqeer Aslam, Syed Ghazanfar Ali Raza and Iqbal Rao attended the meeting.

The officials also discussed different issues to chalk out framework for mutual cooperation between the two institutions.

The Suparco representatives informed the VC and faculty members that their institute was involved in mega projects of national importance, including implementation of the National Satellite Development Programme which included design development, manufacturing, launch and operations of a National Communication Satellite System (Paksat-1R) and a Remote Sensing Satellite System (RSSS).

Therefore, they said, Suparco immediately needed to embark on an extensive human resource development programme with the support of relevant national/international universities of repute in the establishment of necessary infrastructure at or close to its current establishments in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.

In this situation, they requested that the university should extend the lease period for 12 acres given in 1987 and further revise the agreement to provide more university land to the commission.

VC Arshad Mahmood said the issue to provide more land to Suparco would be placed before the syndicate after assessing and evaluating the outcomes of the already-signed MoU of lease. He said the practical collaboration should take place between the two institutions, as it had the potential to enhance cooperation in the fields of mutual interest like telecommunication/satellite communications, environmental sciences, geography, geology, earth and environmental sciences, microelectronics, geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and physics.

He said the initial interaction with the university departments concerned and a recent visit of their departmental heads to the Suparco establishments in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi had indicated immense scope of cooperation between the two organisations, embodying collaborative research projects, faculty support, course design, access to state-of-the-art laboratories and sharing of highly valuable information and data.

He said it was strongly felt that the envisaged cooperation would produce expertise in multifarious fields and create new job opportunities. To facilitate it, Suparco needed to establish numerous additional research and development laboratories and satellite operation and control facilities at its SRDC Lahore premises so that the PU faculty members and students could get benefit from the expertise.