Peshawar - Special Assistant to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Riaz Khan on Thursday said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Communications and Works (C&W) Department was pioneer in introducing E-bidding system in the country which guaranteed transparency and was a step towards Digital Pakistan.
The completion of Swat Expressway, he said, was a flagship project of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and also paper work was underway on Swat Motorway Phase-2, Dera Ismail Khan to Peshawar Motorway and Chakdara to Dir Motorway. Practical work on the projects would be started soon.
These views were expressed by Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Communications and Works Riaz Khan and Special Assistant for Information and Higher Education Kamran Bangash during a press briefing on the two-year performance of the Department of Communications and Works in Peshawar.
Riaz Khan said the C&W Department was working with 26 departments of the province. Besides, the department was also going to set up a complaint cell in which people could register their complaints. He said that the department had spent all funds allocated for development projects.
Replying to question about corruption, he said the process of punishment was going on in C&W Department and disciplinary action was being taken against anyone found involved in corruption. Many officers had been suspended and inquiries were also underway against them, he added.
Commenting on development projects of backward and tribal districts, Riaz Khan said that projects worth billions of rupees were underway in the tribal districts as well as in backward districts.
He said that construction of Katling to Baba Seri Buner interchange on Swat Expressway would be handed over to the contractor soon. He said that construction of Peshawar to Dera Ismail Khan Motorway would change the destiny of the southern districts. A huge amount of Rs275 billion would be spent on this 360km long motorway, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to KP CM for Information and Higher Education Kamran Bangash said that like other departments of the province, the performance of the Department of Communications and Works was not hidden from anyone. He said in the history not more than Rs14 billion had been spent on development projects in the merged tribal districts but Rs34 billion had been spent in the first year after integration and the amount would be further increased to Rs70 billion.
Kamran Bangash said a network of development projects had been set up to overcome the deprivations of the tribal districts and Chief Minister Mehmood Khan was himself monitoring the entire development process of the tribal districts.