KARACHI, Feb 8: The Higher Education Commission’s plan to set up a federal engineering/technology university in Hyderabad has failed to make any progress for want of land to build its campus at Ganju Takkar in the Gulistan-i-Sarmast Housing Scheme. And if the land is not made available soon, the HEC is likely to change its plan and utilise the resources elsewhere, said reliably sources on Thursday.

The federal university project was conceived and pursued by the Hyderbad District Government and it was approved by the HEC in last July. Later, a team of the HEC paid a visit to Hyderabad and after visiting different sites selected a piece of land adjacent to an under-construction police academy at Ganju Takkar.

However, despite repeated requests from the district government the piece of land measuring 300 acres was not transferred to the HEC.

The selected land was part of the 3,500 acres allotted to the Hyderabad Development Authority for Gulistan-i-Sarmast Housing Scheme. This scheme also has failed to take off since 1982 due to deferment of a decision about the cost of the land.

In this connection a high-level meeting was held two years ago with Sindh governor, also attended by finance minister, Sindh LG adviser, finance secretary and the member of board of revenue.

The meeting had discussed the issue of fixing land cost. On the agreed lines of the meeting, a summary was moved through the local government department to chief minister, but a decision on the summary is still awaited. Sources said despite repeated requests by the district government to the board of revenue, the process of allotment of the land to the HEC was yet to be initiated.