KARACHI, June 22: The construction of the new Sindh Assembly hall is not likely to take off during the coming financial year 2008-09 as the planning and development department has not approved the project.

In the budget book for the year 2008-09, the assembly building hall project has been shown as an ‘unapproved scheme.’ An allocation of Rs20.4 million has been approved for engaging a consultant architect and engineering firm for the architectural and structural designs of the new Sindh Assembly hall. However, the allocation of Rs94.6 million out of the Rs1,939 million estimated cost of the project has not been approved.

According to sources, the same scheme was approved in principle by the department at its meeting on May 20, which was presided over by the additional chief secretary (development).

The Speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, has summoned a meeting of the department concerned to find out the status of the scheme.

The meeting, sources said, also considered the constitution of a construction committee for the project and the appointment of its project director.

The scheme of the new assembly hall was conceived in 1991, when the Sindh government decided to preserve the present assembly building as a national monument in view of the historical role played by the Sindh Assembly in the creation of Pakistan. Besides, it is the same building where Lord Mountbatten had signed the document of transfer of power from the British Raj to Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah as the first governor-general of Pakistan.

Despite the finalization of the building plan in the early 1990s, the project could not take off for three years due to a controversy over supervisory power between the works and services department and the general administration of the assembly.

The issue was resolved only after the project was handed over to the assembly secretariat. However, despite the approval of its PC-1 and inclusion of the project in the budget document of 1996, the scheme was dropped as the then Pakistan People’s Party government had decided to build its capital city in Malir on the pattern of Islamabad, where not only its secretariat but also the assembly building would be relocated along with residences of government functionaries. For this purpose over 20,000 acres were acquired.

With the installation of a new government in 2002, the old project to build a new hall for the Sindh Assembly in the backyard of its present location was restarted to make a provision for future expansion of seats from 168 to 350.

Its foundation stone was laid on August 31, 2007 by the then chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and the then speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah.

A construction committee was also constituted, headed by senior minister Syed Sardar Ahmad, which was given the task of negotiating with the owners of the two buildings adjacent to the assembly to make them part of the project.

However, it is not known about the outcome of negotiations initiated to construct the buildings on the assembly premises.

The two buildings, which had not been in use for over two decades, are located at the intersection of Maulana Deen Mohammad Wafai Road and the entry point of Assembly Road.

The new hall, whose PC-1 was approved last year before laying of its foundation stone, will comprise a basement and ground plus three floors to be linked with the old historical building. It will have a seating capacity for up to 350 members in addition to the provision of further expansion.

Its basement will have a library, a mosque, and a parking lot. The ground floor will have chambers, offices, a hall, voting lounges and related facilities.

The second floor will have rooms for ministers, conference rooms, a gallery and an auditorium.