Senate panel wants more funds for Parliament Lodges, swift completion of new suites

ISLAMABAD: The Senate House Committee Wednesday stressed increased funding for Parliament Lodges, and swift completion of new suites amid budget shortfall.

Deputy Chairman Senate Syedaal Khan chaired the meeting of the Senate House Committee at the Parliament House. While discussing the vacation of family suites, occupied by former members, Syedaal asserted that members were legally bound to vacate the accommodation after expiry of their term. He recommended that illegally occupied accommodations should be vacated as soon as possible. He also recommended that renovation work of the newly allocated suites be conducted based on necessity.

The committee was briefed on the CDA’s allocated budget for the Parliament Lodges and the CDA chairman stated that the annual budget for the Parliament Lodges for the year 2024-25 was around Rs369.261 million; however, the required amount for the year was approximately Rs850 million.

Additionally, the committee discussed the current status of the 104 new suites of Parliament Lodges. Officials explained that the project was initiated in 2011, had an estimated cost of around Rs2.9 billion, but the construction work has been halted since 2016 due to litigation with the contractor and as of now, the cost of the project stands around Rs8.62 billion.

However, the CDA had submitted PC-I to the Planning Commission to secure budgetary allocation for completion of Phase I, which includes 54 suites.

The secretary for Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives informed that a meeting of the Planning Committee was scheduled for this week to review PC-I of the new block. The committee recommended the Planning Ministry should ensure required budgetary allocation for completion of Phase-I of the new block.

All committee members, secretaries concerned, CDA chairman and other senior officials attended the meeting.