Cabinet okays uplift, pension reforms

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet, in its 34th meeting held on Friday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, approved a series of development initiatives and administrative reforms aimed at strengthening infrastructure, healthcare, public service delivery, and pension management across the province.

One of the major decisions included the approval for procurement of 50 additional diesel-hybrid buses for the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system at a cost of Rs3.2 billion.

This move comes in response to the growing public demand and recent expansion of BRT routes from six to eight, including new routes DR-11, DR-13, and DR-14. With this addition, the BRT fleet will grow beyond the current 244 buses, improving service frequency and coverage.

The cabinet also approved the merger of four ADP scheme campuses of the "ZamungKor" Model Institute for State Children in Swat, DI Khan, Abbottabad, and Peshawar Girls Campus into the main Peshawar-based autonomous body. The merger aims to streamline operations and improve care for over 1,000 children currently enrolled across the facilities.

In a significant financial reform, the cabinet approved Pak Qatar Asset Management as the 13th asset management company under the Contributory Provident (CP) Fund Rules 2022. The CP Fund, introduced in 2015, is part of pension reforms shifting from an unfunded to a funded pension model, ensuring sustainability and investment of pension contributions through SECP-registered firms.

The cabinet passed several legal amendments, including revisions to the K-P Right to Public Services Act, 2014. The updates aim to enhance e-governance, coordination, and public accountability, while also introducing provisions for marginalized communities. Amendments were also made to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Public Private Partnership Rules 2021, reducing the bidder response time from 60 to 30 days, to accelerate project delivery.

Health sector improvements were also prioritized, with the cabinet approving enhanced funding for several ongoing projects. These include an increase in cost for Balakot's Category-C Hospital from Rs575 million to Rs924.596 million, conversion of 50 rural health centers into 24/7 facilities (Rs1.7 billion), and upgrade of 200 Basic Health Units for round-the-clock maternal care (Rs2.96 billion). Additionally, a Rs346 million grant was sanctioned for modern equipment at Peshawar Institute of Cardiology.

The cabinet also approved a non-ADP scheme worth Rs124 million to resume salaries for Provincial Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (PERRA) staff and directed the issuance of termination notices to contract employees from July 2025. Other approvals included financial assistance of Rs10 million for a cancer patient, appointment of Rubab Mehdi as K-P's Ombudsperson, and inclusion of Makniyal in Urban Area Development Authority Haripur.

Further allocations included Rs1.5 billion for transformer repair, Rs1.041 billion for settling PESCO dues, and Rs400 million for irrigation sector maintenance. The cabinet lifted a vehicle procurement ban to allow two official vehicles for District and Sessions Judges in Mohmand and Khyber and approved outsourcing of tobacco cess collection (excluding factories).

The cabinet also sanctioned the hiring of legal counsel for an anti-narcotics case in the Supreme Court and reviewed land utilization and timber trade mechanisms in Upper Kohistan and Chitral.