SWABI, Aug 23: Fifty-eight out of the 100 rooms of a newly built hostel were handed over to the management of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology by its contractor on Tuesday.

The 100-room hostel, when complete, would accommodate 200 students of the institute.

Sources told Dawn that Rs64.8 million estimated cost of the hostel was sanctioned by President Pervez Musharraf who had attended a presentation on GIK Institute in May 2004.

On the occasion the president had said that the government was fully conscious of the fact that institutes of higher education served as engines of economic and industrial advancement.

“Therefore, such institutions must strive for attaining higher standards of education and we will encourage their further development”, the president had added.

The president, the sources said, was informed about the mission, academic facilities, financial aspects and achievements of the institute.

He was also apprised of the need of a hostel in the institute to enable it accommodate more students in undergraduate and MS programs.

The sources said construction of the hostel would also strengthen financial position of the institute.

Out of the 58 rooms, 50 have been given to the students of undergraduate program while in the remaining 8 rooms students of MS, leading to PhD program, would be accommodated.

Rest of 42 rooms are under construction and are scheduled to be completed by 31 March, 2006.

The hostel has a central warming system and its bathrooms have cold and hot water, the sources said.