National Art Gallery completed at last!

It is generally said and believed that construction is very difficult and time consuming work.Against this,destruction is quite easy and "accomplished" in no time.
Furthermore,we are shy of appreciating someone for doing a good work but quite willing to criticise him on some flimsiest ground to serve our own vested interests. Why do we have become so cynical in our attitude towards others ? The latest instance in this respect is nothing else but just completed mega art project ie National Art Gallery which is being criticised on one account or the other without any justification whatsoever instead of appreciating the fact that Pakistan has joined those countries around the world which have their art galleries to depict and project their art and culture on regular basis under one roof.
Pakistan's first-ever permanent National Art Gallery has at last been completed in Islamabad after being in the doldrums for the last more than two decades.
Establishment of the National Art Gallery has been in the boiling pot since early 1980's.Now that it has been completed after going through the ups and downs over the years,it awaits its formal inauguration at the top-most level of President/Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Pervez Musharraf .
Initially,it was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 26 in connection with the Pakistan Day celebrations but the same was put off for some days due to other pressing engagements and commitments of the VVIP.
Permanent Art Gallery construction has been completed by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) under personal supervision of its energetic,creative and hard task master Chief Executive/Director General Naeem Tahir who is well-known in the art circles.In all fairness,the National Art Gallery own premises would not still have been possible without Naeem Tahir's keen interest and blessings of President/COAS General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who have kept themselves updated about the progress of the mega art project and also not hesitated for a single moment in providing and sanctioning the funds required for acceleration of construction work.
The four-storeyed National Art Gallery with modern facilities state of the art auditorium with seating capacity of 400, a theatre,stage facilities,administrative and teaching area,open air theatre and cafeteria.
The newly-constructed Art Gallery has as many as 14 galleries for permanent display of the selected paintings and other art work of all noted artists of the country.The art pieces presently with the PNCA number more than 400.
The PNCA has also shifted its headquarters from a long rented premises to the Art Gallery where a huge national level exhibition is being organised to mark its formal inauguration.
The main objectives for the establishment of the National Gallery are to further promote long-standing friendship between the people of Pakistan and the world at large and to provide a vehicle for exchange of creative endeavours between the artists and intellectuals of the country.
The National Art Gallery will serve as a national forum for the artists of Pakistan and also has a number of galleries of international standards to house collection of art from Islamic and SAARC countries which would go a long way to promote understanding of cultures among these countries.
It will also be promoting linkage between the artists of Pakistan and Islamic Ummah and the rest of the world in general.
But for the low priority attached to the mega art project by the official quarters concerned,the National Art Gallery's would have been completed many years earlier than now.Provision of inadequate funding in the budgets by the succeeding regimes and spending of the same at nail's pace were other main factors for inordinate delay in the completion of the National Art Gallery own premises.
The location of the National Art Gallery in the Federal Capital bit away from the main roads also leaves much to be desired.This was due to allocation of the required land by the bosses of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) at their own sweet discretion and total lack of interest on the part of the PNCA bosses at the time when the site was being selected.
It would not be out of place to mention here some background developments and events which had delayed the construction of the National Art Gallery so long.As a matter of fact,the unpleasant story of the NAG makes quite an interesting reading particularly for those who are directly or indirectly involved and concerned with the promotion of art and culture in the country.
It was way back in 1981-82 that the then President/COAS General Muhammad Ziaul Haq issued a directive for the construction of the NAG in the Federal Capital and announced an allocation of Rs 5 million for ensuring its meaningful start.
Accordingly,a nation-wide competition was organised for the selection of best possible design of the building.The design was selected by a Jury headed by the then Federal Culture Minister and designing work was awarded to winning architects firm,Messrs Naqvi and Siddiqui.
However,it was only in May 1989,indicating the bureaucratic hitches and delays,that the original project was considered and approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
Within four months of the project approval by the ECNEC,the design already approved was declared unsuitable.
Fresh nation-wide design contest was organised by the PNCA in September 1989.The design of messrs Suhail and Pasha was selected by the Technical Jury headed by the then Chairman PTV. The project was awarded to them for detailed designing.
For construction of the mega project,the CDA initially provided a plot of land measuring 19940 squarer yards in Sector G-5 adjacent to the National Library for which the PNCA had then paid Rs 2.00 million as full cost. But within no time the site was changed by the CDA and instead a plot in Sector F-5 measuring 18055.55 square yards was finally allotted in October 1994. Thus the project commencement was delayed till February 1996 though work on it should have been started in 1989.
The Planning Commission at one stage, just when the work was to start, had even described the National Art Gallery as "very costly and financially non-viable"project which would not be completed at a cost of Rs 249 million but also involve Rs 18 million annually as non-recurring expenditure.
It is also worth mentioning that then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had issued a directive that the NAG would be opened on August 14,1997 coinciding with Pakistan's Golden Jubilee celebrations.But that was not to be.At that point,only the foundation work had just started.
What could not be accomplished in almost 24 years has at last been completed in about 19 months.The huge imposing structure front describes it as the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA)...National Art Gallery.
For the time being less than 10 percent of the National Art Gallery is going to be used for the performing arts and the artists.The nomenclature of the great,prestigious remains unchanged as the National Art Gallery without any change whatsoever.The visual artists and painters should not be too miser to share just less than 10 percent of the NAG with the performing artists retaining the remaining over 90 percent for themselves.The NAG will remain as the NAG come what may.
And it is a matter of coincidence that the mega art project which was initiated during the days of President/COAS General Muhammad Ziaul Haq in early 1980s had at last been completed during the present regime of President/COAS General Pervez Musharraf who is going to formally inaugurate it now.
PNCA Chief Executive/Director General Naeem Tahir told this scribe in response to a pertinent query that a new National Cultural Centre for the performing arts in Islamabad is also planned to be established next to the National Art Gallery.
He said that setting up of the National Cultural Centre has already been approved by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.Naeem Tahir said that the work on the new project would be taken in hands in the right earnest after formal inauguration of the National Art Gallery.