PESHAWAR, Dec 12: As the Engineering Corps of the Pakistan Army is reconstructing 56 militancy-hit schools in Malakand division with the United Arab Emirates assistance, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) officials expect timely completion of the work and that, too, within the given budget.

The army's engineering department was engaged by the provincial for reconstructing these schools, which were dynamited by militants in and around Mingora city, Khawazakhela, Behrain, Madyan, Kalam, Matta, Buner and Saidu Sharif in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The reconstruction of schools is being carried out under the $100 million UAE-Pakistan Assistance Programme in two phases, one involving 37 educational institutions and the other 19. Colonel Arif, a spokesman for Inter-Services Public Relations in Mingora, headquarters of Malakand division, told Dawn on Monday that the Engineering Corps of the Pakistan Army received no service charges or any contractual fee as it was providing its services free of cost.

When asked about the interest of the army's engineering corps in the exercise, Shakeel Qadir Khan, director general of PDMA, said the army's involvement in the reconstruction activities was a display of goodwill gesture on the part of the military towards the militancy-affected people of Malakand division.

Another PDMA official said: “It (provision of free construction services) is an emerging trend after being introduced by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.”

Mr Shakeel said a division of the engineering corps was dispatched to Malakand division in response to the provincial government's request to Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani for the army's help for reconstruction work.He said reconstruction of schools is taking place at a faster pace compared with those being rebuilt by the provincial communication and works department.

Mansoor Ali Durrani, a private contractor, said the army was carrying out reconstruction work at a pace faster than public sector organisations.

“They (army) do not involve lengthy procedures as is the case with the provincial government's communication and works department,” he said.

Similar views were expressed by officials involved in reconstruction activities in Malakand division where a large scale rebuilding effort is taking place after the militants were removed from the scene through a forceful military crackdown in 2009.The PDMA chief said: “They (the engineering corps) carry out the assigned reconstruction tasks with the help of their jawans (soldiers), which is their strongpoint in completing the projects within the stipulated time.”

The spokesman for the ISPR said outsider contractors were hired occasionally, only when machinery (construction) was required. “We have already completed 95 per cent of the schools that were assigned to us,” he said, adding that the projects assigned to the army were completed at the given cost.

“The army pays its contractors without delay for the work done,” contractor Durrani said, adding that “they (army men) also don't take commission as has been the case with some of the government's departments.”—Intikhab Amir