K-P allocates Rs1.55b to protect forests

PDWP approves 19 projects worth Rs26.66b

PESHAWAR:

The provincial government on Thursday approved a project worth Rs1.55 billion to protect and nurture forests in the newly merged areas of the province apart from spending another Rs2 billion to build a new bus terminal in the provincial capital.

This was decided during a meeting of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by the K-P Planning and Development Additional Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan and attended by members of the PDWP and other relevant departments.

The forum considered 30 projects from different sectors, including forestry, agriculture, elementary and secondary education (E&SE), multi-sectoral development, health, relief & rehabilitation, urban development, Auqaf, roads, the board of revenue, water, energy and power sectors.

It approved 19 development projects at an estimated cost of Rs26.66 billion. The PDWP referred at least three projects to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), while eight projects were deferred and returned to their respective departments for revisions and modifications.

Of the projects approved in the forestry sector was the Rs1.55 billion wildlife and forest conservation and development project for the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata). It also approved Rs6 million to set up a mini zoo in the Kanju Township of Swat.

In the agriculture sector, four projects were approved under The meeting also approved four projects under the Fata Water Resource Development Project. This will include the Rs240 million water flow project in Badakhel, the Nili Tangi water project in Khyber district worth Rs680 million, the construction of the command area for the Khurshid Dam in the Mohmand tribal district fro Rs119 million, and an Rs238 million project to build the command area for the ​​Left Bank Canal in Warsak.

In the higher education sector, establishment and feasibility study of Swat university of engineering and technology were also approved.

The projects of the multi-sectoral development sector were clearance of contractors’ liabilities, compensation, arbitration awards, court decretal amounts and escalation and water resources development project.

Establishment of the project management unit and three district management units for projects to be funded from 10 per cent oil and gas royalty were also approved.

In the health sector, upgrading rural health centre in Jolagram, Malakand and Jewar in Buner to Category-D hospitals, integration of health services delivery with special focus on MNCH, LHW, EPI and nutrition programme was approved.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2020.