CM seeks enhanced cooperation of donors in uplift of merged districts

PESHAWAR: Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan on Tuesday stressed the need for enhanced cooperation from donors to bring the newly merged districts on a par with the rest of the province.

“The people of the NMDs have suffered a lot due to decades long militancy, and the areas is lagging far behind the other parts of the country in development; and hence it needs the special attention of both the government as well as the donor agencies specially in basic infrastructure development,” he told a delegation of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

A delegation of UNDP headed by its resident representative, Samuel Rizk, called on the caretaker chief minister here. Matters related to various public welfare programmes under the UNDP portfolio were discussed in detail. Possibilities of further extending the collaboration between the provincial government and UNDP in different social sectors also came under discussion on the occasion.

The chief minister stressed the need for enhanced cooperation from UNDP and other partner organizations in the development of merged districts.

The chief minister appreciated the continued financial and technical support of UNDP being extended to the provincial government in various social sectors. He expressed the hope that collaboration and cooperation between UNDP and the provincial government would continue in future as well.

He termed the merger of Ex-FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a good step, and urged the UNDP to further extend the scope of collaboration in these areas so that fast track development of those areas could be ensured. He also highlighted the need of strengthening police infrastructure in these areas with the aim to improve law and order situation to the desired level.

Azam Khan suggested UNDP authorities to carry out programmes in the rural development sector of the province including the NMDs with the participation of the local community, to ensure sustainability of such programmes. He termed the rising trend of drug use by the young generation of the province as of serious concern, and stressed the need of UNDP’s collaboration focusing on both the prevention and treatment sides.

He assured that the caretaker provincial government would extend all out support to UNDP for the execution of its public welfare initiatives in the province.

Talking on this occasion resident representative of UNDP, Samuel Rizk appreciated the provincial government for its support in the execution of UNDP Programmes. Hesaid that UNDP, in collaboration with the provincial government, was working on various programme in social sector which include merged areas governance programme, rule & law project, economic revival programme, eco-tourism, flood recovery programme and HIV control programme, etc. He remarked that there existed a very closed mechanism of coordination between the UNDP and relevant departments of provincial government with regard to the implementation of these program, adding that UNDP would further extend its scope of collaboration in the days to come.