PDWP approves 21 projects worth Rs5.59b

Capacity building of public health engineering department in merged districts under AIP approved

PESHAWAR: The top development project approval body of the province on Thursday okayed some 21 development projects at an estimated cost of Rs5.59 billion, including several projects for the newly-merged tribal districts.

The projects were approved by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) during a meeting held on Thursday with K-P Planning and Development Additional Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan in the chair. The meeting was attended by members of the PDWP and other relevant departments.

The forum considered as many as 26 projects of different sectors including water, health, roads, bridges, sanitation, urban development, relief and rehabilitation, transport, science and technology and industries.

The meeting, though, only sanctioned 21 projects. Another project was cleared by the PDWP for onward referral to the federal government and to being considered by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and thereafter the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

PDWP approves projects worth Rs8.18b

The remaining four projects were deferred and returned to their respective departments for rectification.

In the water sector, the projects approved included the construction and improvement of flood protection works culverts, drains and roads in different union councils of Mardan district including Baghi Irum, Kas Korona, Manga, Khazana Dehri, Chamtar, Mahoderi, Mohabatabad, Bijlighar, and Dargai.

The construction and rehabilitation of water supply and sanitation schemes in Hairpur and Khanpur tehsils were also approved. Separately, water supply schemes in UCs Kehal, Malikpura, Nawanshahr, Sheikhul Bandi, Kakul, Mirpur, Banda Pir Khan and Cantonment areas of Abbottabad within PK-39 were approved.

Projects approved in the health sector include a proposal to procure of equipment and other items to equip a dental college and the dental departments at the Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital in Swat.

In the roads and bridges sector, the projects which were approved by the PDWP include an eight-kilometre-long extension from Sujal Kot to Thesi in Abbottabad.

Moreover, a proposal to provide funds to compensate landowners in the construction of an approach road from NCC Road to the new Mardan Central Jail. The construction of a road in Karak Tehsil, Takht-i-Nasrati and Banda Daud Shah were also approved.

The provincial review body also approved the construction of several roads in Malakand, Mansehra, North Waziristan, and Khyber districts.

Water and sanitation projects in several areas of Haripur and Abbottabad were also approved.

The meeting also okayed a project to strengthen and build the capacity of the Public Health Engineering department in the newly-merged tribal districts of K-P under the Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP).

It also approved a move to clear payments for contractors, compensation for landowners and other dues for the feasibility student, designing and construction of a road from Nothia to Kohat Road and from Nothia Phattak to Swati Phattak in Peshawar as per the Annual Development Programme (ADP) project.

It also approved payments of liabilities in a case filed by Haji Muhammad Aslam against the Collector Land Acquisition and others.

A project to build farm-to-market roads in all the merged districts was also approved.

PDWP approves 26 projects worth Rs26.8b

For the relief and rehabilitation sector, a block provision for schemes which will be funded through the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) on a cost-sharing basis. Around 30 per cent of the cost of projects will be borne locally while 70 per cent will be provided by foreign donors including assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The PDWP meeting also approved a consultancy to develop the master plan and design for a Digital Complex and the Science and Technology Directorate in Peshawar.

In the industrial sector, a project to procure land for the establishment of the Small Industries Estate in the provincial capital has also been approved.