Chief minister flaunts cities facelift plan
Chief Minister K-P Mahmood Khan
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has termed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (K-PCIP) an important initiative for public welfare and has ordered speedy work on various packages under the scheme as per stipulated timelines.
He said that the project will prove to be an important milestone in providing better civic and recreational facilities to citizens in divisional headquarters.
He was chairing a meeting to review progress on K-PCIP. During the meeting it was revealed that a project worth Rs97 billion has been launched for provision of civic facilities including provision of clean drinking water, establishment of green areas and other facilities in the five divisional headquarters of the province and work has been underway on the said project.
It is pertinent to mention here that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has formally performed ground breaking of three different projects including restoration of water supply system, establishment of new water treatment plant, Sherwan Adventure Family Park and Cricket ground and uplifting of the old Bazar in Abbottabad city.
These three projects will be completed at an estimated cost of over Rs11 billion.
The participants of the meeting were informed that various projects for the establishment of recreational parks in Kohat, Mardan, Mingora and Peshawar and a project for the establishment of sewerage treatment plant in Kohat are ready for implementation which will cost Rs9 billion.
Moreover, agreements have been signed for the establishment of water supply systems in Kohat and Peshawar at a cost of Rs7.5 billion, sewerage treatment plant in Mardan at a cost of Rs8.3 billion and water supply network projects in Mingora at an estimated cost of Rs20 billion.
The mobilization advance guarantee is in the process of verification after which the physical work on these projects will be initiated.
Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said that the cities improvement project is one of the mega projects of the provincial government. He stressed that the projects must be completed within given time frame along with ensuring quality of civil work. He made it clear that ground breakings will be performed only when the machinery is mobilized to the respective site.
The chief minister said that K-PCIP is an important project of the provincial government which, on completion, will change the entire landscape of the divisional headquarters.
He added that the provincial government believed in fair and efficient use of public resources and implementation of the project is realization of that vision.
Mahmood Khan noted that development schemes have been designed keeping in view the needs of various divisional headquarters and the problems faced by the citizens.
The sole objective is to streamline the overall process of providing basic amenities to the people. He said that work is underway on dozens of projects in the health, drinking water, irrigation, industry, tourism and other sectors.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 5th, 2022.