RAWALPINDI: After a laboratory test declared the material being used in the construction of a school substandard, the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) on Wednesday decided to check the material used in all other buildings in the district.

The matter of the use of substandard construction material in the reconstruction of 95 government schools - the buildings of which were declared dangerous - first came up when District Coordination Officer (DCO) Talat Mehmood Gondal visited an under-construction school in Konterala, Gujar Khan on Tuesday.

The DCO took samples from the material being used and sent it to be tested to the National Highway Authority laboratory which declared the material substandard, and said it could damage the buildings.

A meeting of the executive district officers finance, planning and education and the consultant of the project was called by the DCO, who gave 10 days to all nine assistant commissioners of the district to check material being used in the construction of schools.

DCO wants material used in reconstruction of all 95 schools to be tested

A project for the reconstruction of dangerous school and hospital buildings was started by the Punjab government which released Rs700 million for the rebuilding of schools in Murree, Gujar Khan, Taxila, Kahuta, Kallar Syedan and Kotli Sattian.

A senior CDGR official told Dawn that the DCO had told the works and service department and the consultant for the project that quality material be used so that the lives of students and patients were not put to risk.

He said the reconstruction project was launched in two phases. Under the first phase, 95 schools were to be built at the cost of Rs319.4 million with the project being 60pc completed.

In the second phase, he said, 99 school buildings were to be reconstructed for Rs314.216 million and that 35pc of work on the second phase has been completed so far.

Hospital buildings were also to be reconstructed in the six tehsils for which Rs45.272 million was released and construction work on hospitals has also started, the CDGR official said.

“Now that the issue of substandard material has arisen, assistant commissioners will examine the construction work with help from experts and present their reports to DCO Gondal in two weeks,” he said.

The iron bars used in the buildings will also be checked, he said and that the DCO has asked the National Highway’s laboratory to test the samples because it was a government department, the reports of which are deemed reliable.

“The reconstruction of dangerous school buildings was started in December 2015, with the buildings deemed more dangerous prioritised,” he added.

During the earthquake in November, the buildings of 96 schools in the district were damaged and all of them are on the list of buildings to be reconstructed.

“The repair of the remaining buildings will start after getting funds from the provincial government for the fiscal year 2016-2017,” the official added.

More than 812 buildings in the division were declared dangerous including 317 schools in Rawalpindi, 139 in Attock, 47 in Chakwal and 309 in Jhelum.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2016