MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed on Friday directed the authorities concerned to make temporary arrangements for holding sessions of the Legislative Assembly till the construction of new assembly hall.

These arrangements could be made by raising a prefabricated structure or a marquee, he said.

The prime minister was addressing a consultative meeting in the committee room of the MLA Hostel to explore alternative sites for holding the assembly sessions, following detection of serious engineering faults in the existing hall and the decision to demolish it.

Participants of the meeting included LA Speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq, leader of the opposition Raja Farooq Haider, deputy leader of the opposition Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Minister for Physical Planning and Housing (PPH) Chaudhry Pervaiz Ashraf, Minister for Auqaf Afsar Shahid, secretary assembly Chaudhry Basharat Hussain, secretary PPH Chaudhry Khalil, secretary planning and development Mansoor Qadir Dar and other concerned officials.

Early last year the assembly secretariat started renovation of the hall at a cost of Rs100 million. The renovation was estimated to finish in six or so months and in the meanwhile, the venue for the sessions was temporarily moved to the MLA Hostel. However, when the false ceiling of the hall was removed, during the course of renovation, it transpired that the roof had developed wide cracks in the October 2005 earthquake, warranting demolition of the building.

In August last year, a high level meeting, attended by the prime minister, leader of the opposition, LA speaker and other concerned officials, decided to construct new assembly building complex after demolition of the existing structure in phases.

According to assembly sources, tentative cost of the project, calculated on the basis of “user requirement,” is Rs 913 million.  

The sources said Friday’s meeting was held to review different alternative sites for the sessions till the construction of new building, which was believed to consume a considerable time.

The options included going ahead with the existing site in the MLA hostel, using the sports complex in the district headquarters complex, or constructing a prefabricated structure either on the premises of assembly or somewhere outside on the official land.

The Central Design Office was directed to give a comprehensive briefing in this regard to the same participants on February 4.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2015

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