SUKKUR: Work remains on hold for 18 month on the construction of the Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College (GMMMC) campus which was launched 12 years ago but is still too far from completion thanks to frequent and prolonged delays and political meddling.

Launched in 2003 by then chief minister Ali Moham­mad Mahar with an estimated cost of Rs2 billion, the construction work has dragged on by fits and starts over the past 12 years but it now has come to a complete halt for the past 18 months, according to sources said.

Major reasons behind work delays were: political interference, frequent transfers of project director and non-release of funds. The initial cost of the PC-I of the project was Rs2 billion, which was approved by the Sindh government in 2007, but was revised upwards later to Rs3.86 billion in an apparent move to please the influential contractor, said the sources.

Besides, the sources said, the provincial government had so far released only Rs380 million which had been used on the construction of boundary wall and 70 per cent work on an academic block and hostel for girls without a roof.

The sources said that an amount of Rs75 million of the project had lapsed because of careless attitude of the government.

The government appeared to be so eager to appease the contractor that it doubled the project cost from Rs2 billion to almost Rs4 billion despite a marked decrease in prices of iron as well as petroleum products, which req­uir­ed the project’s cost to be reduced, said the sources.

Civil society activists who have been at the forefront of movement for the medical college said that it appeared welfare works were not on the government’s priorities list.

They demanded the Sindh chief minister, minister for education and other authorities concerned should take action to ensure the project was completed as soon as possible so that youths could get medical education nearer their homes.

Sukkur Commissioner Moh­a­m­mad Abbas Baloch was made as project director of GMMMC project last year who has now been replaced with Sukkur Deputy Commissioner Shahzad Fazal Abbasi but he has not yet been given powers of drawing and disbursing.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2015

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