KOHAT: The contractor has stopped construction work on a new building of the women and children hospital here over nonpayment of dues.

The work on the Rs1.68 billion project was inaugurated in early 2018 by then chief minister Pervez Khattak. However, work halted soon after demolition of the surgical and medical wards in 2018-19 as the contractor did not receive the funds as promised to launch full-scale construction activity, sources said.

They claimed that inauguration of the hospital was made in March 2018 by then chief minister Pervez Khattak on the persuasion of local lawmakers over fears they would be rejected by the voters in the general elections.

The sources divulged that oil and gas exploring firm, MOL, and a Polish NGO had been asked to reconstruct the hospital but they had backed out.

The civil society activists lamented that federal information minister Shibli Faraz and state minister Sheharyar Afridi visited the hospital site the other day, but failed to ask the provincial government for early payment of dues to the contractor.

They urged federal information minister Shibli Faraz, state minister Sheharyar Afridi, CM’s advisor Ziaullah Bangash, MPA Amjid Afridi and Senator Shamim Afridi to ensure payment of dues to the contractor so the building could be complete as soon as possible.

Dr Gule Rana, the hospital’s medical superintendent, told Dawn on contact on Monday that she had asked the communication and works department for arranging a makeshift building for operating the labour room and some wards, but to no avail.

An official at the MOL headquarters in Islamabad told Dawn on contact that the health secretary and lawmakers did not attend meetings for chalking out a strategy for release of funds by a Polish bank for the project.

Ghulam Habib, the contractor, said the government had promised him to release funds in bulk so the project could be complete before time, but to no avail.

“I am being pushed to continue work and spend from my own pocket on the promise that I will be paid in two installments at a later stage as currently the government is facing funds shortage,” he claimed.

Ehsan Ayaz, PRO to the CM’s adviser on information technology, Ziaullah Bangash confirmed the contractor had left the work on the hospital over nonpayment of dues.

OIL SUPPLY RESUMES: The four-day suspension of oil supplies from Darmalak well being operated by the Hungarian MOL company was lifted on Monday after signing of an agreement with the residents of six villages for removal of their grievances. The agreement was reached in the presence of the deputy commissioner, SNGPL general manager and lawmakers.

The local elders had suspended the oil supply from the well against nonpayment of bonus funds, low gas pressure and denial of development projects in the resource-rich region.

Shad Munir and Malik Arshad, members of a committee, told Dawn that they had been demanding full gas pressure for last eight months, but to no avail.

They said the lawmakers and the SNGPL officials had assured the locals that a survey for laying a pipeline to the villages directly from the main line had been ordered.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2020