ISLAMABAD-Federal Urdu University of Science and Technology (FUUAST) will shift its Islamabad campus to its own newly constructed building in the month of December this year and will be able to save Rs4 million per month being paid as rent, Vice Chancellor (VC) university said on Friday.
VC Prof. Dr. Syed Altaf Hussain in a media talk held here said that around 80 percent construction work of the university’s own building is complete and campus will be shifted by December 2019. He said shifting to own building will help university save Rs4 million per month being paid in terms of rent to WAPDA.
He said that university had sought intervention of Supreme Court, which had allowed university to function in the current building till January 2020.
Dr. Hussain said that the halted construction project of university campus was started in April 2018 and now 80 percent of the construction is completed. “The construction work was started on old rates set in 2013 with the contractor,” he said.
FUUST VC also said that viewing the needs of the Islamabad campus, a reviewed PC-I of the project was prepared and submitted which has been approved in pre-CDWP meeting.
He said that PC-I of around Rs1 billion will be presented in the meeting of CDWP for approval. He also said that university administration also held talks with Capital Development Authority (CDA) to obtain No Objection Certificate (NOC) and resolved the matter after multiple meetings.
He said that both sides agreed that university will pay NOC fee in instalments in the time frame of three years. About the issue of link road to access the university, FUUST VC said that matter was discussed with CDA and Bahria Town authorities.
He said that after mulling several options it was agreed that Bahria Town will construct 100 feet road up to main gate of the university.
The VC also said that issue of non-accreditation of electrical engineering students has also been resolved after Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) held a visit to university.
He further added that similarly council for computer science also held a visit and talks are underway for the accreditation of computer science department. He also added that university is also considering starting new programmes in the Islamabad campus.
He also said that before he assumed the charge, university’s both campuses at Karachi were facing severe financial stress, while selection board for appointments on academic and administrative posts was also not held for last ten years.
He added that it was also being considered to shut down the university because of its severe administrative crises and now university is moving on the right direction.
Earlier, National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training discussed issue regarding issuance of NOC to the Federal Urdu University by the CDA for its new campus, and recommended to discuss the issue of NOC in the board meeting of the authority and decide to settle the matter of payment of the amount in instalments and submit the report to the committee in its next meeting.