Centre wants New Balakot city completed: PML-N senator

MANSEHRA: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has opposed the planned exclusion of almost 3,000 kanal of land from the New Balakot City Housing Project being developed to rehabilitate over 5,000 survivor families of the red zone in Balakot. “The provincial government is not sincerely working to complete this mega housing project. The offspring of the earthquake affected families have grown in a miserable condition in small shelters after losing everything in a devastating earthquake [on October 8] in 2005,” Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator Lt-General (r) Salahuddin Tirmizi told reporters on Sunday.

The senator, who belongs to the Kaghan valley in Balakot tehsil, said he had taken the issue of delay in completion of New Balakot City Housing Project in Senate in 2004. The issue was referred to the standing committee on the Cabinet Division the same year but the provincial government never showed it’s sincerity to address that important issue, he added.

“I have come to know officially that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government wants to take over the project, excluding Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority which seems not to be a viable option as the latter planned, executed and now waiting for hand-over of the land from the KP government for its completion,” said Senator Salahuddin Tirmizi.

The PML-N leader said there was no agriculture land in developed area and if KP government handed over the developed 3000 kanal of land back to its landowners, the project would never complete. The senator said the KP government had paid an amount of Rs1.2 billion to its landowners and spent huge amount on its development. “The Nespak had designed its master plan and Erra developed it on entire earmarked land. How it is possible to exclude such huge land which may destroy the whole planning,” said senator. He said it was decided in the last meeting of the Senate committee that the KP government would facilitate and provide security to contractors to complete development work other than disputed land but the KP government didn’t honour its commitments and project seemed to be in a shambles.