Construction of drug and food testing laboratories in Rawalpindi has been halted due to shortage of funds. According to sources, the Punjab government had allocated Rs 47.65 million for the projects for the current fiscal year but the funds could not be released by the authorities concerned.
The Punjab government had announced to construct food and drug testing laboratories in Rawalpindi in 2009. The estimated cost of the drug laboratory was Rs144.46 million and it was under construction in the Basic Health Unit (BHU), Mial Sharif, while the food laboratory was under construction at a cost of Rs 126.21 million in BHU, Dhok Parh.
Almost 90 percent building of the drug lab had been completed at a cost of Rs 42.93 million, but funds to purchase equipments have not yet been released by the provincial government. Similarly, almost 64 percent of the food lab had also been constructed at a cost of Rs 46.35 million.
It is pertinent to mention here that according to official plans, the drug and the food laboratories were to be completed by November 2011, but both the projects could not be completed due to scarcity of funds.
According to the Health Department officials, after the formation of the Food Regularity Authority in Lahore, the authority was responsible for the functioning of these projects. They further informed that project files of the drug lab were in the authority’s office for review, as the cost of the project had increased over and above the estimated cost. Moreover, the building contractor would hand over the lab building to the authority only after receiving the payment from the Punjab government.
