Review panel will also look into conversion of PM House

ISLAMABAD.: The talks of converting the Prime Minister House into a national university will be given to a commission set up by the interior ministry to look into Islamabad master plan and regularise the illegal structures in the federal capital.

The federal government has mandated the 12-member commission to review the master plan for the federal capital and its requirements for the next 20 years. The commission will present its comprehensive report in six months.

According to sources, the notification issued by the ministry gives the commission the jurisdiction all over Islamabad district. They added that the notification did not mention that the establishment of the national university at the Prime Minister House did not come under its mandate.
“Hence, the review of the master plan for the entire district, covering all government and private buildings, including the Prime Minister House, comes under the mandate of the commission,” a source told this correspondent.

“The current notification has clearly stated that the commission will review the master plan for the next 20 years, including increasing needs of the private sector, pertaining to health and education,” the source added.

According to the sources, if the federal government is reluctant to give the commission the mandate of the whole district it would have to issue a new notification along with new TROs to exclude the Prime Minister House from its mandate.

A senior district administration official, while speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the idea of establishing a university at the Prime Minister House is “impractical” because of its location inside the “red zone”, which houses the most-important public buildings.

“A regular movement of students in the ‘red zone’ will create security-related problems. And in case of protest, the students could block critical roads, leading to the ‘red zone’ while calling a strike,” the official told this correspondent.

Source: The Express Tribune