Realistic timelines set for development projects

Mahmood says provision of utilities top priority of his govt

PESHAWAR: The provincial government on Thursday reviewed ongoing development projects in different parts of the province and chalked out what they claimed were ‘realistic’ timelines for the completion of these schemes.

This was noted in a high-level meeting co-chaired by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Federal Minister Umar Ayub Khan in Islamabad on Thursday.

They reviewed schemes pertaining to the supply of natural gas, electricity, infrastructure and communication in different areas of the province including Chitral, Shangla, Buner, Dir, Bajaur, Hangu, Khyber, Waziristan, Dera Ismail Khan, Swabi and Peshawar.

During the meeting, K-P Chief Minister Mahmood told the participants about the priorities of the provincial government. He stressed that practical steps should be undertaken to produce tangible results in order to meet the deadlines for projects.

OLMT project faces further delay

In this regards, he invited the heads of different organizations to point out any and every bottleneck in the completion of projects so that time is not wasted while working on these schemes and they can be completed.

Mahmood added that people living in remote areas of the province, particularly those in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) were ignored in the past. As a result, he said, these areas were left underdeveloped.

However, he said that incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government is committed to initiating the speedy development of the newly-merged districts and bring them at par with the more developed areas of the province.

CM Mahmood said that the provision of electricity, gas, communication networks and clean drinking water to all, was amongst the top priorities of his government and that they are making every effort to ensure urgent completion of development schemes launched for the purpose.

x

Federal Minister Umar assured the K-P chief minister of the Centre’s complete support after which the provincial and federal authorities discussed schemes in the province one-by-one, assigning realistic timelines for their execution.

Federal Minister Murad Saeed, K-P Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, K-P Minister for Communications and Works Akbar Ayub, MNA Sher Ali Arbab, K-P Finance Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan, heads and senior officers of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), TESCO, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL), National Highway Authority (NHA) and Communication Ministry participated in the meeting.

Earlier in the month, Mahmood had directed the Peshawar commissioner to develop a comprehensive plan in consultation with the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) and the WSSP over the course of the month to ensure the availability of clean drinking water and beautification of the provincial capital on a priority basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2019.