PESHAWAR - Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan has underlined the importance of Naya Pakistan Housing scheme, saying that this will not only provide shelter to the shelterless and jobs to the jobless but would also accelerate economy activities. 

He said it is a unique project benefiting the low income group adding that the Prime Minister while announcing the mega project of construction of 50 lac houses, has assured the nation that his government will bring out the country from the current difficult situation successfully.

The people have to bear the brunt of misgovernance of past corrupt rulers who deceived the people and did mass scale money laundering. He was addressing a gathering of inaugural ceremony for the registration of new Pakistan Housing Scheme at Grassy Ground Swat. 

Provincial ministers, members of national and provincial assemblies, DG NADRA, Commissioner Malakand, DC Swat, and representatives of local government system attended the ceremony.

The Chief Minister said that Swat was included in the first phase of this national mega project. He assured that this project would not only provide shelter to the poor but jobs to the jobless youth. However, there would be small, medium and large scale industrialisation connected to these schemes that will boost economy.

The next step of this project is to establish a New Pakistan Housing Authority under one-window operation and the Prime Minister himself will supervise the whole project. Swat is among the seven districts included in the project. Others are Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Gilgit and Muzafarabad. These projects have been identified for the pilot project under the scheme. In the next 60 days, the whole registration process would be completed which would be followed by the grant of ownership rights to the residents of Kachi Abadi.

He said a National Financial Regulatory Body is being formed to remove the financial obstacles adding that the land would be provided by the government and the private sector would be involved in rest of the work. We cannot ignore the financial hardships but we would keep our promises made with the people under all circumstances and would never hide anything from them. He said that the government has an imbalance of 8 billion US dollars in the import and export, a problem we inherited from the previous government.

The financial imbalance would affect not only Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but the other provinces as well. Fortunately, we have a visionary leadership like Imran Khan who would bring out the nation from this crisis successfully.

He said the previous governments did everything to create financial and other problems for this nation; however, the present government was looking at all options to make a people-friendly decision. He was optimistic that the reforms of the present government would have far reaching impacts.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said that the people of Swat are thankful to Pak Army for restoring durable peace in Swat. He said the local civil administration and police has also been fully prepared and trained with active cooperation of army.

“Provincial government has launched a number of projects for development of Swat and welfare of people,” he said adding that efforts would be made to further streamline the civil administration and security agencies.

He was addressing as chief guest at a ceremony at Kanju Airport, wherein, Pak Army formally transferred administrative powers to the civil administration of Swat. Corps Commander Peshawar Lt Gen Nazir Ahmad butt (Hilal-e-Imtiaz Military), IG Police, Commissioner Malaknd, DIG Malakand, DC Swat, MNAs, MPAs and LG representative attended.

Mehmood said that the beautiful and scenic valley of Swat was occupied by terrorists and criminals a decade back. He said that he was himself witness to the cruelties and tyrannies of terrorists over innocent people. “This was dark era for the people of Swat but they braved it with courage while their commitment for making Swat a cradle of peace is an unprecedented example,” he exclaimed.

The Chief Minister deplored that the terrorists ruthlessly damaged the social and economic fabric of Swat that had no match on the globe, wherein, our educational institutions were destroyed. Unnecessary restrictions were imposed on women while innocent citizens were killed in cold blood he added.

He while appreciating the role of Pak Army, Police and People of Swat in such critical circumstances, acknowledged that they jointly faced the enemies with immense courage and rendered enormous sacrifices to defeat them.

Mehmood Khan while saluting the Pak Army said that it wrote new chapters of bravery with active support of the people. He said that defeating terrorism was a difficult task that could be judged from the present plight of the neighbouring country. However, he said that our brave army and people made possible the impossible task with their spirit of sacrifices.

The Chief Minister also appreciated the welfare schemes of Pak army in Swat and said that it greatly helped the locals to stand on their own feet. He said that our army won the hearts of Swatis by the dint of its people friendly attitude.

Mehmood Khan was also appreciative of the role and capacity of the local civil administration saying that it ran the local affairs in befitting manners during the last couple of years.

He said that after transfer of powers to the local administration he could proudly claim that Swat and its people would feel more secure and Swat would progress by leaps and bounds. He expressed the confidence that Swat would become a model district all over the country after the outstanding performance of the civil administration.