Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
Islamabad: In a major setback for Pakistan’s science and technology sector, Islamabad’s first space observatory plan has been shut down owing to the incompetence of the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), while the government institution’s chairman has blamed the Shehbaz Sharif-led government for the same.
PSF chairman Dr Shahid Baig acknowledged that the project’s failure has caused millions of losses to the national exchequer, local media reported.
Baig claimed that the project could have been successfully completed if the cash-strapped economy would not have witnessed a regime change last year.
What went wrong?
In April 2021, Pakistan’s then Minister of Science Fawad Chaudhry laid the foundation stone of the first space observatory plan. However, the cost of space observation equipment was increased by PKR 20 million due to the untimely importing.
Former Pakistani minister Fawad Chaudhry
The reason behind the delay was the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which was supposed to construct a building for the space observatory. The PSF chairman mentioned that CDA did not do its work as promised, which caused the import of equipment to be canceled.
Back then, the cost of equipment for the space observatory was PKR 15 million. However, the price was increased due to the rise of in US dollar against the Pakistani currency.
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Later on, the PSF decided to buy the devices from its own funds, and costs didn’t matter, informed the chairman, adding that if there was no regime change, the project would have been completed comfortably.
Blame Game
According to Shahid Baig, PSF officials and the Ministry of Science are in touch with each other. Additionally, he noted that although the CDA did not sign a building contract for the space centre, the CDA had a verbal agreement to build a facility for the space observatory, which the CDA rejects.
CDA officials, however, said they allotted the land for the space observatory, but they did not promise to construct a building for the space observatory. Further, the Ministry of Science did not contact the CDA regarding the construction of the building, they alleged.
According to reports, a tender for space observatory equipment was published in October 2021, and more equipment, including telescopes, was to be bought for the observatory.
A space museum was also supposed to be established along with the space observatory, which was going to be used for academic research.
Pakistan Political Crisis
In April last year, a political and constitutional crisis emerged in Pakistan when the National Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri dismissed a no-confidence motion against then prime minister Imran Khan during a session in which it was expected to be taken up for a vote. Back then, it was alleged that a foreign country’s involvement in the regime change was contradictory to Article 5 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
On April 11, the National Assembly elected the then Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif to succeed Imran Khan as the new prime minister of Pakistan, with 174 votes polled in favour of his succession.
(With inputs from agencies)
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