July 02, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 27, 1429

KARACHI, July 1: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has rejected the proposed front elevation design of the new Sindh Assembly building and directed its architect to modify the front elevation of the new building to match with the historical building’s structural design.

The chief minister expressed his dissatisfaction over the design when a presentation was held for him in the committee room of the assembly building on Monday.

Also present were the members of the reconstituted construction committee headed by Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro along with Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, Revenue Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, MPA Dr Sikander Mandhro, MPA Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi, Chief Secretary Fazl-ur-Rehman, Additional Chief Secretary Nazar Hussain Mehar, Finance Secretary Ghulam Ali Pasha and Secretary of the Sindh Assembly Hadi Bux Buriro, who is also the secretary of the committee.

Another member of the committee, minister Syed Sardar Ahmad, could not make it because of his engagements elsewhere.

The chief minister stressed the need to expedite the remodelling of the building’s front elevation to make it ready before August 14, 2008, when its ground-breaking ceremony would be performed. The project is likely to be completed within two years.

This was the assembly where the Pakistan Resolution was adopted and later, on August 14, 1947, power was transferred by the British government to Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah as the first governor-general after independence. It was also the place where Quaid-i-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan unfurled Pakistan’s flag for the first time.

The new building is planned to be built on the open ground behind the existing assembly building — a masterpiece of Victorian architecture — which was built in 1942 with a capacity for 67 members.

In the budget book for the year 2008-09, the assembly building hall project had been shown as an ‘unapproved scheme’ as its approval was not given by the chief minister when the new budget was being worked out.

However, in the budget book, an allocation of Rs20.4 million has been approved for engaging a consulting architect and engineering firm and other matters related to the construction of the new Sindh Assembly building at an estimated cost of Rs1,939 million.