PESHAWAR, March 11: A shopping mall would be constructed at a cost of about Rs30 million to put an end to mushroom growth of shops on the Peshawar University campus, sources said.

Work on the project is to start before June at the place popularly known as Coffee Shop. Around 150 shops would be constructed where at present Old Khyber House, constructed in 1917, a coffee shop and Mohammad Ali market are located.

"Shops were set up at the wrong places in the past without following a master plan," an official said. The Khyber House building is damp and dilapidated and it may crumble down any time. So we plan to reconstruct the building while preserving its front which depicts its historic value. The 'Kacha' part would be demolished.

The road is also very narrow which would be widened with the addition of a car parking lot. The supermarket, located behind the Hostel No 1, and all the shops would be shifted to this shopping mall.

The estimated cost of one shop in the shopping mall is at least Rs66,000 and the shopkeepers doing business on shops rented to them by the University of Peshawar would pay for the cost as advance payment of rent.

"We would not burden the shopkeepers as the payment would be received by the administration in 20 instalments", the official said. There are 83 old shopkeepers and around 53 new applicants who want to set up shops in the planned two-storey shopping mall.

The project will cater to all the requirements of the students with shops of computer hardware, electrical appliances, stationery, tailors, barbers, restaurants and super stores all in one place.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) would fund this new construction which would start before summer vacation and be completed within 15 months's time. The University of Peshawar is also planning to construct four three-storey hostels. Students given admission under the self-finance scheme would benefit from this construction.

"Two hostels for boys and two for girls will be constructed at a cost of Rs17.5 million each in the campus", an administrative official of the university said. Construction of an academic block is planned to overcome the shortage of classrooms.