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Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works held meeting & discussed various projects

ISLAMABAD, July 25 (SABAH): A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works was held on Monday at the Parliament Lodges.

The meeting was chaired by Senator Haji Hidayatullah and was attended by Senator Saifullah Abro, Senator Prince Ahmed Omer Ahmedzai, Senator Fida Muhammad, Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi, Senator Muhammad Qasim, Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Senator Afnan Ullah Khanand senior officers of the Ministry of Housing and Works along with its attached departments and agencies.

SENATOR HIDAYATULLAH KHAN, CHAIRMAN SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND WORKS PRESIDING OVER A MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE AT PARLIAMENT LODGES ISLAMABAD ON JULY 25, 2022.

Matters discussed included; details of ongoing projects and reasons for delays, details of Pak PWD funds utilised for Malakand Division for the past 15 years and briefing project at Mauza Tamma and Morian particularly with regards to the murder of the landowner, says a press release issued here. 

Regarding ongoing FGEHA projects, the Ministry informed the committee that due to unprecedented rise in construction material, continuing work was impossible. It was revealed that the price adjustment included in the contract in line with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) standard price adjustment guidelines did not cover the current hyper escalation of construction goods. 

The committee was informed that the Ministry was doing all in its power to come to an amicable resolution and has forwarded a summary of the issues to ECC for approval of recommendations.  In addition to the above it was asserted that another hurdle that has played an important role in stalling projects pertains to land acquisition issues.  Members took strong notice of phenomenally slow progress and stressed the need for rate analysis. 

The committee emphasized that curbing work was illegal and the Ministry must deal with this issue accordingly.  Directions were given to submit rate analysis details of all projects to the Committee.  The need to set a limit for bids was asserted.  A sub-Committee was formed to review the matter in greater detail.

Discussing details of Pak PWD funds utilised for Malakand Division in the past 15 years the Committee showed concern regarding documentation and directed the Ministry to provide details related to the whole province in the next meeting.  

Regarding the Housing Project at MauzaTamma and Morian, the matter was taken up by the committee to ensure that the aggrieved are compensated.  It was asserted that numerous measures have been taken by FGEHA in this regard. 

The matter of the murder of the land owner, it was asserted must be referred to law enforcement agencies.  The Ministry recommended that compensation must be paid on the basis of the report given by the deputy commissioner and inspector general of police. 

Discussing details of projects of Ministry of Housing and works in Sindh, the committee recommended that allocated funds for the province must be reviewed.