The Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation in Sindh ordered an inquiry into the issue of redesigning, changing consultant and delaying the under-construction cardiac unit for children at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).
According to a local media report, the commission head Justice (r) Amir Hani Muslim questioned the performance of the former project director Tanveer Shah and directed the concerned departments to start work on the pediatric cardiac unit without any delay and with proper work plan and timeline.
The commission was further quoted in the local media report and said that “initially the project director appointed Progressive Consultants Lahore as the consultant and later Abdul Majeed & Company was awarded the contract and the contractor started the work.”
“However, the project director removed the consultant in January and tenders were invited for a new consultant and it took three months to hire a consultant. The work remained suspended during the intervening period,” it added.
It further said that “when the new consultant was appointed with the mandate to alter the earlier designs, the previous work done on such designs should have been properly measured to avoid any possible dispute. Adding, it said that the proposed amendments were bound to render some of the earlier work done useless, causing losses to the public exchequer and also delaying the project of direct relevance and importance to human life.”
Meanwhile, Commission’s Registrar Ghulam Mustafa Channa sent the visit note of the commission to the chief secretary of Sindh, secretaries for health and works and services and others for information and immediate action.