PDWP approves 20 projects worth Rs12.5b

Ventures aim to improve education in merged districts

PESHAWAR:

The provincial government on Wednesday approved 20 uplift projects at an estimated cost of Rs12.513 billion.

Most of the sanctioned projects aim to develop roads apart from uplifting educational and sporting facilities in the province.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) met on Wednesday with Additional Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan in the chair. It was attended by members of the PDWP and other relevant departments.

The forum considered 22 projects from different sectors including agriculture, industries, roads, multi-sectoral development and sports. Of these projects, only 20 were approved while the remaining two were sent back to their respective departments for further review and modification.

Projects approved in the agriculture sector were the development of a command area for the Kaitu Weir irrigation and power project of the Kurram Tangi Dam.

Among the projects sanctioned in the of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) sector were the reconstruction of damaged schools in Darra Adam Khel sub-division of Kohat district, Hassan Khel sub-division of Peshawar district, Orkazai and Kurram districts under the Fata Infrastructure Programme.

The forum also approved the Project Concept-II (PC-II) for detailed engineering design, commercial and financial feasibility of the 50 kilometre Dir Motorway. The widening, improvement and black-topping of the seven-kilometre-long Sadda-Marghan Road in the Kurram district were also approved.

The construction of a farm-to-market road and black-topping of the Darbazai to Dara, Dogar to Torghar, Arwalai to Jalamai, Makhzai to Maidan, and the Tabai Khani Khel roads in the central Kurram were also okayed.

Construction and black-topping of several roads in Orakzai and other districts were also approved during the meeting.

In the sports sectors, the approved projects include feasibility studies of the road to Shiek Badin tourist site, the establishment of heritage field schools in the province with the assistance of Italy, and upgrading Hayatabad Sports Complex in Peshawar.

The uplift project approved in the multi-sectoral development sector was solarization of various mosques in Swat district. Meanwhile, the Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) in a meeting on Wednesday approved 107 projects for the promotion of culture, sports and tourism in different parts of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2020.