Path to progress: Fifteen development schemes approved for FATA

Analysis and strategy team to be formed to streamline security in tribal areas

PESHAWAR:

Various development schemes of over Rs2.5 billion were approved for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas  (Fata) in the sixth meeting of the FATA Working Development Party (FWDP).

FATA Additional Chief Secretary Mohammad Azam Khan chaired the meeting which was held at the FATA Secretariat on Sunday. A number of senior officials of education, health, communication, energy, livestock and fisheries departments were in attendance along with officials of the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA).



Around 15 new and ongoing schemes of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) got the approval of the FWDP, while 12 schemes were deferred and sent back to the relevant departments for review.

The green light

The projects that got the green light include the formation of the first of its kind FATA Analysis and Strategy Team with the aim to streamline the security system in the tribal belt. The estimated cost of the project is Rs90 million and during the first phase Rs15 million has been allocated by the FWDP.

Moreover, Rs750 million was approved for the Peshawar-Torkham highway, Rs200 million were allocated to devise a monitoring system to ensure the presence of teachers at educational institutes and Rs80 million for the provision of basic amenities in 30 schools of Kurram Agency.

Similarly, a hefty Rs100 million has been approved for the restoration of damaged roads in South Waziristan Agency, including Gomal Zam-Wana-Angoor Adda Road, Jandola-Makeen Road and Rashakai-Wana-Makeen Road.



The FWDP has also allocated budgets for the health sector; Rs60 million for reforms and Rs30 million for the establishment of a health management system. Likewise, under the prime minister’s package, Rs400 was approved for restoration of damaged health facilities in the tribal areas.

Meanwhile, Rs180 million was approved for the FDMA and Rs100 million for setting up a Terminal Operation Unit at Torkham. Under the special directives of Governor Mehtab Abbasi, Rs30 million was approved for the restoration of electricity in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2014.