PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief
Minister Mahmood Khan has
warned that unnecessary delay
in the completion of the project
will not be tolerated, directing
all the concerned departments
and organisations to complete
their respective tasks well in
time to ensure the completion of
important mega project.
He made these remarks while
presiding over a high-level
meeting at Chief Minister House
Peshawar to review the progress on Bus Rapid Transit Peshawar Project here on Thursday.
The chief minister termed the
Bus Rapid Transit Project as an
important project of public welfare and said that completion of
the project would help resolve
the traffic issues of the provincial metropolitan to a great extent.
Finance Minister Taimur
Jhagra, Minister Transport Shah
Muhammad Khan, Senior Officials of Transport Department,
Local Government Department,
C&W Department, Peshawar Development Authority, Trans Peshawar, Wapda, Sui gas and other relevant bodies attended the
meeting.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed all the
concerned quarters to expedite
work on the establishment of
the proposed Kalam Development Authority so that tourists’
spots in the area could be preserved and maintained to boost
tourism activities therein.
He also directed the relevant
quarters to give final touches to
the arrangements for holding
Dera Jaat festival and Kalam festival. He issued these directives
during a briefing given to him
on the steps taken for the promotion of foreign and domestic tourism in the province here
on Thursday. It was informed
that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Project (KITE)
has been launched for boosting tourism activities across the
province.
Under the project, road infrastructures are being improved
in the existing and newly-identified tourists’ sites of the province to facilitate the easy access
of tourists. Major road infrastructure schemes under the
KITE project included Thandiani road, Mankyal, Bada Sehrai,
Shishi Koh to Madaklasht road,
Supat valley road. It was further informed on the occasion
that huge amount has been approved for such other projects
under the Annual Development
Programme (ADP) of the provincial government as well.
Under the ADP schemes, an
amount of Rs2937 million has
been approved for different
roads in Hazara division and an
amount of Rs1999 million has
been approved for various roads
in Malakand division. Provincial
Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Advisor to CM on
Information Ajmal Wazir, Principal Secretary to CM Shahab Ali
Shah, Secretary Tourism, Secretary C&W and other relevant
high ups attended the briefing.
The forum was further informed that steering committee of the project has approved
a work plan of Rs840.213 million while Project Management
Unit has also been setup to monitor the smooth and speedy implementation of the project. A
feasibility study is underway for
the design of four tourism roads
while Under Directorate of Archaeology, a scheme of Rs529
million has also been sent for
approval. It was told that provision of capacity building services Rs4.760 million to Directorate of Archaeology has been
also included in the project.
The chief minister directed the
concerned authorities to give
special attention to promote
tourism in the newly-merged
districts as there was huge potential of tourism in the area;
and added that a scheme to this
effect be included in the Accelerated Implementation Plan (AIP).