LAHORE: The National College of Arts (NCA) Rawalpindi campus administration has failed to complete its under-construction academic block for the past two years. Construction work on the Rawalpindi Campus building had started in 2014. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 200 million. The project has been mired in controversies since it start. Even the Higher Education Commission has termed the building’s quality “poor”. NCA established its Rawalpindi campus in 2005. It was funded and supported by the HEC and the Ministry of Education. The Federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting provided support for acquiring land for the development of the campus. The campus was established at the historic Liaquat Memorial Hall at Liaquat Bagh. According to reliable sources at NCA Lahore, the administration had only been able to complete 70 percent of the work at the building even after the passage of two years. “An inquiry is also under process by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Cabinet Division against the current NCA Principal Dr Murtaza Jaffri,” sources said. The standing committee had formed a sub-committee, comprising MNA Rana Qasim Noon of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Asad Umer of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Mansab Dogar and Seema Mahyuddin Jameeli. The committee had also sought details about alleged corruption in construction of the new academic block at the Rawalpindi campus. According to documents available with Daily Times, the NCA Rawalpindi campus director had written several letters to Principal Dr Murtaza Jaffri, asking for stoppage of civil work at the academic block. On December 30, 2015, the HEC also wrote a letter number to the NCA, stating that construction work had been carried out without proper site supervision by experienced technical persons or consultants; the roof slab of the ground floor was observed as sagged at some places; shuttering was not done properly; the roof slab had been designed and was cast with 9-10 inches width, which had increased the quantity of concrete putting extra load that resulted in extra cost to the project instead providing a beam. Further highlighting the faults in the building, the HEC in the letter also stated that the columns were not in line with the foundation layout; honey combing at several points had been observed in columns, beams and roof slabs. The HEC further directed the NCA administration that the work should be reviewed by an independent third party and a committee comprising technical members (external and internal) should be constituted to oversee the construction work at the site. Keeping in view the HEC letter, Rawalpindi campus Director Nadeem Omar Tarrar wrote a letter to NCA Principal Dr Murtaza Jaffri to stop the civil work. However, the letter was sent back to director with the note that no such suggestion had been given by the HEC team. Besides several issues raised by Nadeem Omer Tarrar and the HEC team, a faculty member of NCA Architecture Department Prof Mubashar Ahmad Khan had also written a letter to the Rawalpindi campus director, highlighting the nine faults found in the building. A labourer also lost his life in an accident while working at the site on November 28, 2016. NCA Principal Dr Murtaza Jaffri remained unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts. Published in Daily Times, November 22nd 2017.