ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Heading towards the old secretariat — northeast of Marriot Hotel, off Constitution Avenue — one can’t miss the construction in progress of a new secretariat, Pak Secretariat, which is nearing completion.

As Pak Secretariat nears completion, almost all the ministries housed in older buildings, all clubbed under the banner “The Secretariat”, are monitoring the construction process at the new secretariat, in the hope of finding prime and prim office space.

The best justification being proffered by government officials is the desire to house an entire ministry under one roof, to improve communication and reduce costs.

An official of ministry of housing and works, offered the following justification for shifting offices:  “Public Works Department has a separate building in G-10 and Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation is in another building in sector G-10.

Estate Office is in Shaheed-e-Millat Secretariat, four years back some wings of Estate Office were in sector G-6, due to which there were communication problems.”

An officer of the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development (CAD) said that ministries which were established after 18th amendment have been facing similar problems.

“At the moment CAD’s main office is on different floors of D Block of the Secretariat. Besides, some offices of the ministry were established in Shaheed-e-Millat Secretariat, some are in G-8 and some are in National Institute of Science and Technical Education (NISTE),” he said.

“CAD is a breakaway ministry of ministry of education and health but offices of devolved ministries were occupied by some departments, including district administration,” he said.

“With office space scattered, ministry officials cannot communicate with each other easily. When a file is sent from one office to another, it takes many days to reach the desired destination. It takes lots of time and funds are wasted,” he said.

“The ministry has been planning to shift into the new Pak Secretariat which is almost complete. If we could get an entire floor in the new secretariat, it will be enough for all the offices of CAD,” he said.

According to an officer of ministry of housing, construction of new blocks of Pak Secretariat started in 2008 on a plot which was used for a Bus Stand, just a few yards away from the old secretariat. It was expected that the building worth Rs3.47 billion would be completed within three years but because of financial crunch, construction work was delayed.

“Anyhow construction work is in the last stage and elevators are being installed in the building. Different ministries are in the running to reserve office space,” he said.