KARACHI, Aug 16: The Sindh Assembly hall will be ready to meet the needs of an expanded house after the Oct 10 general elections.

Repair and renovation work of the assembly building, including work on additional seats in the assembly hall, is progressing satisfactorily. The work is likely to be completed according to the schedule by Sept 30, said Sindh Assembly Secretary Hadi Bakhsh Buriro.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, he said the entire work would cost Rs3.90 million, which included repair of the assembly building’s dome, makeover of the false ceiling, installation of new airconditioning and conference systems and increasing the seating capacity from 116 to 172 in the hall.

The number of seats has been increased after the introduction of electoral reforms made by the National Reconstruction Bureau.

Mr Buriro said the work was being supervised by the consultants, M/s ARCOP Associates, under the advice of the communication and works department. Each segment of work was being carried out by a separate contractor, he added.

“The modification plan has been worked out in a manner that the basic character of the building should not be affected and seating arrangement in the hall could be restored to its original plan after the construction of a new assembly hall.”

Due care is being taken as the Sindh Assembly Building is a national heritage where landmark events took place such as the adoption of the Pakistan Resolution on March 3, 1943, followed by the ceremony of transfer of power from the British to Pakistan, and where the Founder of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, took oath as the first Governor-General of Pakistan and Khan Liaquat Ali Khan as the first Prime Minister of the country on August 14 and 15, 1947, respectively, Mr Buriro said.

In reply to a question, he said the extra seating capacity had been created by converting two out of the five aisles in the hall, creating two rows in front of the existing seats, removing reporters table to accommodate eight seats and a last row was being added by moving the existing rows three inches forward and also by narrowing the passage from 15 inches to 12 inches.

He said this was a purely temporary arrangement because when a new assembly hall would be constructed the seating arrangements would be restored to its original plan.

When his attention was drawn to press reports in 1994-1995 that feasibility of a new assembly hall plan in the backyard ground adjacent to the present building had been finalized and its architecture design and model had been prepared, he said the new plan was initiated in 1988 anticipating an increase in the number of members in near future and in the successive budgets monetary allocations had also been made, but the entire plan was dropped in 1996.

Answering another question, the assembly secretary said the Governor’s Gallery, Diplomatic Gallery and Official Gallery would remain intact as these were part of the house. In the Official Gallery the first seat was reserved for chief secretary, the second for secretary law and parliamentary affairs and the rest of the seats for the secretaries of departments.

The Governor’s Gallery is used for the MNAs, Senators, former MPAs, former MNAs and other notables, and Diplomatic Gallery was used for foreign diplomatic guests, he said.