PESHAWAR - The Board of Peshawar Devel­opment Authority (PDA) has al­lowed construction of high-rise buildings in the territorial juris­diction of PDA.

The approval was given in the 3rd board meeting of PDA held here on Tuesday with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the chair.

With this approval, construc­tion of buildings with more than ten storeys would also be per­mitted.

It merits a mention here that under the existing by-laws of PDA, construction of buildings with more than ten storeys is not allowed.

The approval was required for allowing the construction of high rise buildings in view of the growing urbanization in the provincial capital and to contain the increasing consumption of agricultural land for construc­tion purpose.

Besides Provincial Minister for Finance Taimur Jhagra, Special Assistant to CM on Local Gov­ernment Kamran Bangash, Advi­sor to CM on Information Ajmal Wazir, Administrative Secre­taries of Local Government, Fi­nance, Environment and Plan­ning Departments, the meeting was also attended by Principal Secretary to CM, Deputy Com­missioner Peshawar, Director General PDA, Representative of Local Government Peshawar and other relevant high ups.

On the occasion, the chief minister termed the construc­tion of high rise buildings as a dire need of the hour to ca­ter the increasing needs of fast growing urbanization in the city and said that it will also at­tract more investment in the real estate sector.

He directed the concerned au­thorities for necessary steps to devise a comprehensive mech­anism in order to regulate the construction of such high rise buildings.

The meeting also approved handing over of the proposed Peshawar Model Housing Scheme from Provincial Hous­ing Authority to PDA for execu­tion and implementation.

The meeting also approved provision of funds to the PDA through re-appropriation with­in the local government sector for the construction of the miss­ing link of Ring Road from War­sak Road to Nasi Bagh.

The project would cost more than one billion rupees. The meeting also approved the shifting of PDAs head office from Hayatabad to Regi Mod­el Town Peshawar. Similarly, it was also decided to handover the commercialization of Uni­versity Town Peshawar as per Provincial Assembly decision to the PDA.