ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Housing and Works Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada has taken up the issue of the faulty elevators in Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat.

However, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman has assured to act positively within the next two weeks by repairing and making the two elevators operationalon an emergency basis.

The Shaeed-i-Millat Secretariat Building has been in use of the ministry of housing since 1986. Building’s vertical transport system consists of one cargo and five passenger elevators.

The minister inspected vertical transport system of the multi-storey government building, located in Blue Area, and chaired a special meeting to resolve the issue of faulty elevators. Meeting was conducted in the committee room of Pakistan Housing Authority Foundation. Senior officers of the Ministry of Housing and Works, representatives from ICT administration, Pak PWD and Capital Development Authority also participated in the meeting.

According to a statement, it was discussed in the meeting that the issue of elevators remained unresolved primarily due to the paucity and delays in the release of required funds. A contract was awarded after the approval of the first PC-I in 2019 with a budget of Rs54.24 million for replacing three lifts. Subsequently, administrative approval was granted in 2021 to an umbrella PC-I that included the replacement of other three passenger lifts with a cost of Rs48 million.

Initially, funds of Rs50.92 million were released in 2020-21 but the project could not meet expectations owing to the non-compliance of contractors leading to the re-appropriation of funds to other PSDP schemes.

Maintenance responsibility was handed over by Pak PWD to CDA on October 31 last year. It was agreed upon that CDA will move for early revision of PC-I along with termination and necessary revision of agreements with contractors.

The chairman via Zoom link assured the chair to act positively within the next two weeks by repairing and making the two elevators operationalon an emergency basis.

Minister showed grave concern over the long delay in repair of elevators and the hardships faced by thousands of employees and visitors on a daily basis. He rebuked the authorities concerned for their negligence and urged all stakeholders to resolve the issue on a war footing.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2025