MANSEHRA, Aug 28: The Saudi government will carry out reconstruction of the District Headquarters Hospital, Mansehra, which will cost Rs900 million.

One of the hospital blocks will be repaired by a contractor and the works and services department with the Rs2.9 million fine imposed on them by a court, Dawn has learnt.

Official sources said the court had fined the contractor Rs1.3 million and the works and services department Rs1.6 million after cracks developed in the hospital building in the 2005 earthquake. They said the work would begin in the first week of September.

The selection of a consultant for detailed designing of the building and supervision had been completed by the Saudi Arabian government which would execute the project, they added.

The sources said the phasing of the work would be determined by the project consultant in consultation with the hospital management.

The hospital staff, they said, had been working out of tents since the earthquake.

The Saudi Arabia government had pledged the reconstruction of the hospital, but due to the delays in starting the work by the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, the misery of the people of Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan districts had increased because patients could not bear extreme weather in tents.

When contacted, hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Mohammad Niaz said: “We expect that the reconstruction work will start in the next few weeks because we want to provide better services to the people of the earthquake-affected areas.”