PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed to operationalize the existing governmental infrastructure under the three years Accelerated Implementation Programme in the merged districts and called for recruiting the required human resource for the purpose on a priority basis.
He was chairing a meeting on the developmental projects to be undertaken by the government, said an official handout. Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai, Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Additional Chief Secretary Shehzad Khan Bangash, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Shahab Ali Shah, administrative secretaries of the relevant departments and other officials were present as well.
Mahmood Khan directed the officials to remove the procedural bottlenecks and facilitate the population on the use of Sehat Insaf Card. He said the health and education are the priority areas in the merged districts, adding the groundbreaking of mega developmental projects should be initiated forthwith along with specified timelines for completion of the projects.
The chief minister stressed the need for providing efficient healthcare services, adding billions of rupees were spent every year on the health sector which should be utilized efficiently. Earlier, he was briefed about the work progress on the 21 developmental schemes in seven different sectors.
The chief minister was informed that the Federal Board of Investment will give its approval for changing the status of Rashakai Economic Zone to special economic zone in the meeting to be held soon in Islamabad.
He said the developmental agreement for the project would be finalized within the next three days. In addition to fixing of timelines, Mahmood Khan directed to explain the necessary assistance required from the federal government for initiating civil and developmental works in the Rashakai Economic Zone.
With regards to the progress on the Insaf Rozgar Scheme, the meeting was informed that physical verification of 5,000 applicants was currently under process. The chief minister directed to expedite the verification process in addition to launching an effective awareness campaign to ensure timely receiving of additional applications. The chief minister directed to initiate simultaneous work on Cities Development Project in the five divisional headquarters which will be helpful in the industrialization of the province.
For the purpose, He called for undertaking pragmatic measures for the betterment of the traffic in the province. It is pertinent to mention here that under the first phase of the Cities Development Projects, various mega schemes will be initiated in five divisional headquarters which will be completed in the next five years. The chief minister was also briefed on the Khyber Pass Economic Corridor, Peshawar Transformation Plan, Malakand Regional Developmental Plan, Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme, Hangu Township, Swat Motorway, Billion Tree Tsunami, Chashma Right Bank Lift Canal and different developmental projects in Swat.