PESHAWAR, Dec 16: The Earthquake Engineering Centre (EEC) of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), NWFP, will soon have Asia’s second biggest shake table, with Japan having the biggest.

This was stated by EEC project director Dr Qaiser Ali at a meeting here on Saturday with a monitoring team of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), headed by Sandal Mufti, senior project manager.

The Rs180 million worth of shake table, measuring 6x6sqm, would have a capacity to measure full-scale structures of brick masonry for seismic testing, Mr Ali said.

The EEC is currently providing consultancy services at the national level, he said, adding that after installation of the shake table, the scope of the services would be expanded.

The meeting discussed the progress of UET development projects costing Rs2.2 billion.

The meeting was informed that Rs76.06 million had so far been spent on the Institute of Mechatronics Engineering being set up in Hayatabad at a cost of Rs147.60 million.

The first batch of students would be enrolled from the next academic year commencing in September 2007.

Another project ‘Wide Spread Intranet Setup’ costing Rs34.55 million had been completed, it noted.

The campuses being set up in Bajaur and Orakzai agencies would be connected to the main campus through wireless technology.

LANDMINE BLAST: A man was seriously injured in a landmine blast in village Khazana on Saturday.

The injured, Jahangir, son of Mir Nawaz, told police that he was waiting for his friend outside his house in Hasanabad locality when the blast occurred.

Jahangir was taken to the Lady Reading Hospital where his condition is stated to be serious.

The Khazana police have registered an FIR against unknown suspects and started investigation.