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KARACHI, July 11: The city government has failed to initiate work on a project to establish a state-of-the-art cultural complex and model library despite the fact that the project was announced in the last financial year (2006-07).
Well-placed sources told Dawn that the Sindh government, under its Annual Development Programme (ADP), had sanctioned Rs5 million initial funding during the financial year 2006-07 to the city government to launch the project. But so far nothing has happened on the ground.Last year, in its budget for 2006-07, the city government announced that it would establish a central library in North Nazimabad Town, at an estimated cost of Rs100 million, for which the Sindh government had to provide funds under the ADP.
The sources said that the Provincial Development Working Party approved the cultural complex and model library project in April this year with a total funding of Rs113.6m (including funds to purchase books), to be released to the city government over a three-year time period as the cost of the whole project.
The sources said that initially it was a five-year project. But City Nazim Mustafa Kamal requested the Sindh government to curtail the duration to three years.
The sources said that a 4.5-acre plot had been identified in North Nazimabad near Saifee Polytechnic College, but the property was encroached upon for the last few years. However, the city government managed to remove all encroachments from the plot to start construction work for the complex, which would meet international standards, they added.
‘Construction to begin soon’
The sources said that the plot was owned by a private bank and it was decided that the bank would hand it over to the city government after settling some legal formalities. However, the delay in getting possession of the land was also cited as one of the reasons for not initiating construction work.
EDO Works and Services Amanullah Chachar told Dawn that the bank officials informed his engineers, who went to get the possession of the land, that they were reconsidering their decision to give the land to the city government.
“But I was recently informed that the bank had given possession of the land to the defunct KDA land department. Within the next few days the works and services department will get possession of the land and execute the construction work,” he added.
With the help of initial funding of Rs5m, the sources said, the tendering process was started and it was completed before the end of the financial year 2006-07. However, the construction work would begin during the current financial year (2007-08), for which the Sindh government has allocated Rs35m in its budget. The amount will be released to the city government in the current financial year.
The sources claimed that in case of the prompt release of the required funds by the provincial government, the city government could manage to complete the project in two years instead of three.
Complex facilities
The three-storey building of the cultural complex will consist of an auditorium and a conference room, while the library will have two big reading halls, a section for children, a separate section for old books and a reference hall on the first floor.
An audio-visual facility will also be part of the complex, which will have an office block as well.
The city government, in its budget for the financial year 2007-08, allocated more than 50 per cent of the required funds for the project.
At present, the city government runs two libraries — one at Aiwan-i-Riffat and the other at Frere Hall.
