Capital Administration & Development Division Minister of State Usman Ibrahim chaired a meeting in CA&DD to discuss the latest status of raising of the boundary walls of 23 educational institutions in Islamabad.
The meeting was attended by Secretary and senior officers of CA&DD as well as the representatives of Planning and Development Division.
The Minister was briefed about the current status of the project. He was told that initially, 23 Educational Institutions under FDE, were selected to be up-grading and repairing of boundary walls.
The CA&DD has allocated an amount of Rs.182/- million in the current fiscal year to take sufficient security measures in the Educational Institutions, the Minister was told.
Usman also directed the authorities expedite and initiate the process of bidding under the PPRA rules so that transparency could be ensured. He further directed Federal Directorate of Education, to make an execution plan within two days. The boundary walls of these institutions should be raised to 8 ft. within two months, the Minister added.
He further directed formation of Monitoring Team comprising of officers of Federal Directorate of Education for continuous monitoring of the project and identification of its problems.
The minister said that respective Heads of the Educational Institutions will be responsible for checking the quality of work. Usman added that director of the monitoring team will be making surprise visits at the institutions to ensure that swift progress of the work.
So here's the issue – what's the quality standard for building the walls? Bulletproof? Blast-resistant? Windproof? I've seen private schools here use SECOND HAND bricks just to comply and everyone seems fine about it. What's 4" 'crumbling' brick walls going to accomplish?
The government should clearly PUBLISH standards including strength of materials to comply?
If not done properly, and like other 'good' construction initiatives to improve safety, this will come down to a money-making scheme for some.
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