K-P to set up education city in North Waziristan

Project will consist of public and private universities, hostels, sports complex

PESHAWAR: To improve the state of education in the newly merged tribal districts, the provincial government on Monday agreed, in-principal, to set up an Rs1.5 billion education city in North Waziristan Tribal District and to include the project in the 10-year development plan for these districts.

This was directed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Monday as he chairing a meeting regarding the establishment of the Education City in North Waziristan.

Mahmood further directed to set up a working group wherein representatives from the private sector, representatives of Tochi Welfare Organisation and government officials will be included.

He went on to state that the incumbent government will support all such initiatives, adding that the provision of quality education, especially to women in the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) was a priority for the provincial government.

CM Mahmood was briefed about the establishment of the Education City, spread over an area of 1,000 Kanals.

He was told that the TOCHI Organization has acquired land for the project in the Pir Kalay Tappi area of North Waziristan. The area, officials said, straddles three subdivisions of North Waziristan.

Once built, people of the district will be able to acquire quality higher education. Moreover, a competitive and creative educational ambience will be created to achieve a quality education.

This, they hoped, will also increase the enrollment rate in higher education and reduce the drop out ratio at the post-graduate level. Thereby, they aim to increase the literacy rate of North Waziristan — which currently ranks the lowest amongst the newly-merged tribal districts.

One key element in the education city is to promote education amongst women by providing a conducive educational environment. Moreover, the city will provide technical education to locals, allowing them to earn a livelihood through skill-based jobs.

Giving details of the education city’s master plan, officials said that it will consist of private universities, a campus of University of Engineering and Technology (UET), North Waziristan University, an agriculture university, hostels, water reservoirs, mosques, medical college and teaching hospital, a sports complex, emergency services, the Government University of Waziristan and community spaces.

The project will cost Rs1.5 billion while feasibility for it has already been prepared.

CM Mahmood said that the incumbent government is focused on providing quality education, especially to women, in the entire province in general and the tribal districts in particular.

Rs17b allocated for Chitral-Shandur road

The K-P government on Monday decided to allocate around Rs17 billion to build the Chitral-Shandur road.

A spokesperson for the provincial government said that by constructing the 150-kilometre-long road will help promote tourism in the region.

Last week, K-P Chief Minister Mahmood had inaugurated the reconstruction of the 4.2-megawatt Reshun hydel power project in Chitral district. The project will be completed at an estimated cost of Rs806 million by June 2020 and will benefit approximately 16,000 locals.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM DNA

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2019.