PESHAWAR, Dec 28: The Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) has expressed concern over the delay in the construction of court complex here and has asked the government to take the association into confidence over the design and structure of the complex.

In a press release issued here on Saturday, the president of PDBA, Sher Afgan Khattak, said that the Asian Development Bank has been funding the project and a delegation of the association would hold a meeting with the bank officials to inform them about their decisions.

He said that the mysterious silence adopted by the provincial government gave birth to various suspicions. He added that few months back a place had been selected for the complex, but no progress took place since then.

Mr Khattak said that as the ADB would provide loan to the government for the said purpose, so every citizen of this province would pay the debt. Due to same reason, he added, the citizens have right to ask about the complex.

He said that the association should be informed about the design of the complex and different phases of its completion so that the objections and reservations of the lawyers community, if any, could be accommodated in time by the concerned officials.

The president of the association said that the judiciary and the lawyers community were the best persons to judge how the design of a court premises should be, as they were aware about the requirements of courtrooms and the premises.

He added that a Bar room would also be constructed in the complex, but the lawyers community were kept ignorant about where and on how much area the Bar room would cover.

Mr Khattak suggested that through tenders designs should be sought so that international and national construction firms could produce designs for competition.