Peshawar - Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan on Sunday directed the concerned quarters to start physical work on the proposed project of new bus terminal in Peshawar and to complete all arrangements for the ground breaking of the proposed Peshawar Model Town by March next year.
According to an official handout, the Chief Minister further directed the authorities concerned to ensure physical progress on all projects under Peshawar Revival Plan as per the given time-lines and to start practical work on the implementation of Cities Improvement Project by June next year.
Mahmood Khan issued these directives while presiding over a meeting to review progress on Peshawar Revival Plan and various other projects of the provincial capital. Besides provincial ministers Akbar Ayub and Taimur Saleem Jhagra, the meeting was attended by administrative secretaries of relevant departments, Commissioner Peshawar, Deputy Commissioner Peshawar and other relevant quarters.
Briefing the meeting about new bus terminal project for the city, it was informed that the proposed bus terminal would be established on 300 acres of land outside the city having state of the art facilities including cark park, shops, cafeteria, waiting rooms, washrooms, workshops, service station, petrol pump, masjid etc. It was further informed that after completion of the bus terminal, all types of bus stands operating inside the city would be shifted to the new terminal to address the ever-increasing traffic issues inside the city. The meeting was informed that the bus terminal would be directly linked to BRT corridor to facilitate the passengers.
Briefing the participants of the meeting about the Peshawar Model Town, it was told that the proposed model town would consist of 106,000 acres of land having 17 residential zones out of the total 23 zones adding that the residential zones would consist of 82000 residential plots of different sizes. It was further informed that consultancy for the master planning and detailed engineering design of the project was in progress.
The Chief Minister directed the concerned authorities to prepare the master plan of the project keeping in view the future requirements, allocate sufficient space for government offices in the model town and to link it with Motorway M-1 and BRT corridor directly.
Mahmood Khan also directed the relevant authorities to submit an action plan along with proper timelines to implement the Traffic Management Plan of Peshawar on ground within one week positively further directing to ensure completion of the remaining portion of Ring Road from Warsak Road to Nasir Bagh by August next year.
Briefing the meeting about various steps taken so far under Peshawar Revival Plan, it was apprised that more than 1100 shop boards in various areas of the city had been standardised, 745 illegal structures had been demolished, 1500 temporary cabins and sign boards had been removed, 464 kanal of illegally occupied government land had been evacuated whereas wall chalking of approximately 6000 meters length in all had been removed.
During campaigns against polythene shopping bags in various areas of the city, so far 3700 kilograms of polythene bags have been confiscated and destroyed, it was informed. Hayatabad and University Town areas have also been made free of polythene bags.
The meeting was further informed that work on rehabilitation and restoration of the historic Wazir Bagh and Shahi Bagh would be completed by February next year. The chair directed the concerned authorities to focus more attention on the beatification scheme of the city and to give specific attention to the entry points of the city.
The Chief Minister stressed the need of effective measures to solve the issues of environmental pollution due to marble factories on Warsak Road and directed the concerned authorities to work on a plan to shift these factories to another place out of the city so that the issue was resolved on permanent basis.