ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Planning Commission has rejected a summary regarding renovation of 200 more educational institutions for Phase-III under the Prime Minster Education Reforms Programme (PMERP), saying that renovation of institutions listed in Phase-II should be completed first. According to the available information with Daily Times, the education reforms programme was initiated by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Dec 2015 for upgradation of all 423 educational institutions in the capital functioning under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE). Sources disclosed that a couple of months ago the CADD Ministry CADD forwarded the planning cycle-I (PC-I) to the Ministry of Planning Commission seeking approval of funds worth 2.9 billion for renovation of educational institutions for Phase-III. However, as per the sources, the Planning Commission said that work on Phase-II, which includes renovation of 200 educational institutions, was yet to be completed and under such circumstances the proposal could not be granted approval. According to documents, the PMERP has been divided into three phases. First phase include renovation of 22 schools. Work on Phase-I was carried out by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on the directives of the CADD Ministry. However, work on renovation of 200 institutions in Phase-II could not be completed despite the passage of several months. The allocated amount for this phase, as per sources, was around Rs 2.7 billion. A senior official of the ministry, wishing anonymity, said that the authorities were not taking the matter seriously. “The PMERP project was launched in 2015 but despite the passage of over three years renovation work was yet to be completed,” he said. He asked why Planning Ministry should release more funds in case of no progress in previous phases. The official further said that the ministry should finalise the previous tasks at the earliest so that new funds could be released for remaining schools’ renovations. Moreover, he said, the academic atmosphere was also disturbed at the schools where the construction work was underway. He disclosed that several irregularities had been found in the renovation work in Phase-II as the contracts had been awarded to more than one companies. Talking to Daily Times, FDE Director General Hasnat Qureshi said that PMERP was being overseen directly by CADD and officials concerned might be in a good position to comment in this regard. He, however, said that the FDE’s monitoring wing was keening looking into the quality of material being used for the renovation purposes. When the program was launched in 2015, former PM Nawaz Sharif National appointed Ali Raza national coordinator of the PMERP on a hefty package who was responsible to deal with all affairs of the programme. However soon after the ouster of PM Nawaz Sharif, Raza quit the job and no one was appointed in his place. Project coordinator Waqas Fareed said that he was responsible only to deal with with Phase-II and could comment over the proposed summary. “As far as I know, the CADD has forwarded a summary to Planning Commission for Phase-III,” he said, adding that rejection of the proposal was not in his knowledge. Published in Daily Times, March 30th 2018.