LAHORE, May 7: Around 85 per cent design and construction work on the Forensic Science Laboratory at Thokar Niaz Beg has been completed.

After becoming functional, the laboratory will help bring criminals to justice by aiding in analysing what was once a blurred image and non-accessible area of inquiry by changing the prevailing system of assessment of evidence, an official affiliated with the project told Dawn on Saturday.

“The completion time for such laboratories around the world is three to four years. The National Institute of Justice of the USA, spreading over an area of 100,000 sq ft, was completed in more than three years. The Thokar Niaz Beg laboratory is being set up over an area of 170,000 sq ft and as a challenge this project is being completed in record time of approximately two years,” said the official.

The project involved inputs from highly professional foreign consultants who have been constantly providing solutions and improvements in design and the overall quality and accessibility of the laboratory. This transfer of technology and engineering would give the local professionals the unique capability in the South Asian region.

The laboratory would be connected to all data centres all over the world through the state-of-the-art Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) installed there last month. Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs of the USA president Tim Schellberg visited the site for the purpose.

“Mr Schellberg has implemented the CODIS system in 36 such facilities all over the world and described the Thokar Niaz Beg Laboratory as the most outstanding and sophisticated one by all standards so far,” the official added.

Scientists selected to work in the laboratory were being trained in the USA in disciplines like crime scene detections, investigations and deaths, forensic serology, DNA analysis, narcotics, and post-mortem toxicology, pathology, blood splatter analysis, audio-video analysis, finger printing, latent finger printing, firearm and tool marks, forensic photography, polygraph lie detector tests and computer forensics.

Dr Tahir Ashraf, a highly qualified consultant in forensic sciences in the USA, has been assisting in the procurement of sophisticated machinery and equipment for the Thokar laboratory.

Ahmed Mukhtar, the chief executive of the joint venture responsible for the design and construction work of the project, said fine tuning factors of the project were so complex that the electric load of almost one megawatt was intimated on March 31 and all subsequent changes had to be incorporated thereafter.

“Initially only a server room was mentioned in the technical design and on March 31 this year the technical design was revised and modified by the foreign consultants and a data centre was incorporated which increased the power supply load almost eight times. From an electric load of approximately 120 KVA to 800 KVA only for data centre resulted in alteration of almost the entire electric design and supply systems.

“These modifications and alterations are a common feature of such mega projects and need revisions and improvements throughout the building time. They are also catered for in the text of the EPC Contracts. Timelines have to be altered to meet the modified design alterations and the contract also provides for such variances,” said Mukhtar.