PESHAWAR -  Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Monday directed the relevant officials to accelerate construction of Swat Expressway and acquisition of remaining land under the project, as well as oil refinery in Karak and cement factory in Haripur.

He also directed for making arrangements for early launching smart cities in Peshawar and Rashakai.

The chief minister was presiding over a meeting aimed at reviewing progress on various projects including the Swat Expressway, the oil refinery in Karak and smart cities in Peshawar and Rashakai, hydropower projects in Chitral, Naran and other development schemes.

KP ministers Akbar Ayub, Imtiaz Shahid, Dr Amjad, Malak Qasim, MPA Gul Sahib Khan, administrative secretaries and representative of the FWO attended the meeting.

The chief minister said on the occasion that the provincial government would soon inaugurate the various development projects. He directed the FWO to clear liabilities of the provincial government and also accelerate work on Swat Expressway in order to complete it within the time tag.

Khattak also directed the officials to ensure land acquisition for development schemes including roads, cement factory, housing schemes, oil refinery, and others. He also asked for ensuring all pre-requisite for smooth implementation of these projects.

He directed the concerned quarters to resolve the problems within a week as his government would not allow any irritant in facilitation of investors and setting up of industrial units in the province.

He asked the FWO to expedite the survey and take all other steps to formally inaugurate the cement plant, the oil refinery, the smart cities in Rashakai and Peshawar and the Hydropower projects as per agreed timelines.

The chief minister ensured that the government would go all out for facilitating the FWO but within the frame work of agreements and laws. Regarding the Hydropower projects in Chitral and Naran, the chief minister asked the FWO to plan transmission line from the project site to Chakdara. He said that the government had already initiated a number of Hydropower projects in the province for producing more than five thousands megawatts of electricity.

He directed the concerned quarters to prepare a transmission policy for connecting power projects to the national grid. The chief minister said that the 100

About conversion of natural gas for electricity production in Hattar, Rashakai and D.I. Khan economic zones, the chief minister said that the 100 million cubic feet per day of gas that federal government had promised for the province would be utilised for the purpose. He also directed for monitoring progress on development projects.

Khattak directed the quarters concerned to accelerate the process of land acquisition and remove the obstacles obstructing the speed of implementation on development projects. He directed them to set together, review the challenges and find out a legally-acceptable course to follow. He also directed to look into replacement of proposed linking road to the Peshawar smart city with another suitable road.

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak directed the concerned quarters for strict implementation on Senior Citizens Act 2014, adding that the KP government would ensure maximum facilitation of senior citizens and would give maximum relief to them.

He was presiding over a meeting to review pace of progress on the Senior Citizens Act. MPA Shaukat Ali, Head of SSU Sahibzada Saeed, Commissioner Peshawar Dr Fakhar Alam, Secretary Social Welfare Farrah, Secretary Finance Shakeel Qadir, Secretary LG Jamaluddin Shah, Secretary Health Abid Majeed and other officials attended the meeting.

The chief minister directed for regularly holding meetings of senior citizens’ council and providing the allocated funds of Rs30 million. The meeting agreed to make operational the council.

Khattak expressed satisfaction over performance of health department for facilitating senior citizens and implementing the Senior Citizens Act. He directed other departments to follow the health department.

The chief minister agreed to introduce senior citizen cards for provision of healthcare facilities to the senior citizens in hospitals and rural health centres. He also directed to prepare a plan for setting up of community centres for senior citizens. The KP government would issue guidelines at provincial, divisional and district levels for facilitation of senior citizens in different areas, he said while directing the concerned officials to immediately prepare the guidelines.

He also agreed to the proposal for facilitation of senior citizens, starting development schemes for them and accessing the national and international charitable institutions to help in this noble cause. He directed the social welfare department to start working on these lines, adding that senior citizens were the real asset of the society who served throughout their lives in contributing to the cause of the people and training and grooming the coming generation, he added.

 

Our Staff Reporter