ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: The opening of work on the Islamabad model prison, which was scheduled to begin on October 30, has been delayed as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) failed to get possession of the land.

Despite receiving Rs720 million to purchase the 90 acres at Sector H-16, the city managers could not make payment to the landowners who eventually refused to hand over the possession of the site to the civic agency. The chief justice of Pakistan was expected to inaugurate the construction work.

The plan to construct the jail was prepared in 2011 and the project was to be completed within two years. However, due to the shortage of funds and lengthy paperwork, the project could not be executed on time.

The Islamabad administration is the executing agency of the project as it falls under the interior ministry.

The ICT administration has blamed the civic agency for delaying the project.

“We have repeatedly requested the CDA to make payments and get possession of the land,” said Rana Akbar Hayat, a spokesman for the local administration. “Even the construction of the boundary wall is a gigantic task but that too can commence only after the land is acquired.”

The construction work will be carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD). The contract to build the boundary wall of the prison was agreed at Rs130 million; however, the builder may enhance the amount due to the escalation in the prices of materials because of the delay in the launching of the work.

Meanwhile, the city managers have asked the Islamabad administration for another tranche of Rs490 million for launching the development work at the site.

But the ICT administration was of the view that arranging the amount could take months as the funds were to be released by the federal government.

“Besides, the development works are done side by side after the land is acquired. But they need to complete the first task (acquisition of the land),” said an official of the Islamabad administration said.

On the other hand, the CDA is finding it difficult even to meet its own monthly expenditures amounting to Rs560 million, including Rs400 million in terms of salaries, Rs100 million for the utility bills and Rs60 million for the development works.

“Apart from the land acquisition, the other main issue with the project is the approval of its design and this process will take at least another 20 days,” said an official of the CDA.

He was referring to the delay in the finalisation of the design of the prison by the Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners which was to arrange a competition of the prison designs.

The design of the model jail was to be finalised by October 26 but it was also delayed due to a demand by the interior ministry to incorporate special security features in it after the D.I. Khan jailbreak.

The designs will be displayed at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts on November 6 and one of them will be selected by a jury comprising the chief commissioner Islamabad and the registrar of the Islamabad High Court.

The prison, with the proposed capacity to house 2,000 inmates, will be divided into different classes with a separate block for VIP prisoners, most of whom are currently detained in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. Besides, the jail will also have a training centre for the jail officials and a vocational institute for the prisoners.

It may be noted that there has been a pressing demand from the Punjab prison department for a separate jail in Islamabad as around 1,000 prisoners charged with committing crimes in Islamabad are currently housed in the Adiala Jail. The number of prisoners in Adiala has swelled to 4,000 against its capacity of 2,000.