LAHORE, Dec 5: The old Hailey College building, abandoned in 1978, is being renovated to house the city campus of the College of Banking and Finance Manage-ment (CBFM), which is expected to be launched next year.

The Hailey College of Commerce was shifted to the New Campus of Punjab University due to the building’s dilapidated condition and small size.

The building has 12 big and eight small rooms. Concrete floor is being laid, about one and a half feet higher than the original one. The wooden roofs have also given way to ready-made concrete roofs.

The Mohammad Bin Qasim Hall adjacent to the Old Hailey College building has also been repaired. It was allotted to students a couple of weeks ago.

Hailey College principal Nazir Ahmed Chaudhry informed Dawn on Tuesday that the CBFM was planned several years ago, but could not be translated into reality for lack of funds.

The Punjab University administration allocated about Rs4 million for renovating the building and launching the CBFM last year.

About 70 per cent of the renovation work has been completed. The principal claimed that Rs2.3 million would be spent on the project.

The CBFM will be functional from Aug/Sept 2003, when the next academic session starts. It will offer post-graduation courses in banking and financial management as well as a one-year diploma in e-commerce.

Admission would also be offered on a self-finance basis to those having a background of commerce-related education.

The old Hailey College building was originally the residence of philanthropist Sir Ganga Ram, who donated it to the University of the Punjab in 1927. The building served as the first centre of commerce at the Punjab University.

The Hailey College of Commerce was inaugurated by the then Punjab Governor Sir William Malcolm Hailey on March 4, 1927.

Meanwhile, academic and administration blocks are being constructed on the second floor of the existing Hailey College campus.

Mr Ahmed said the New Campus building was not sufficient to accommodate over 3,000 students of the college. Therefore, the college administration had to arrange classes on Sunday as well.

The Rs8.2 million project would be completed in June, he said and added, the college had arranged the money from its own resources.