China gives Rs1668m to repair schools in Khyber Agency

LANDIKOTAL: The Chinese government has given Rs1,668 million for the repair of 68 state-run schools damaged in militancy-related incidents in Khyber Agency, a senior official said on Thursday.

Political Agent Captain (R) Khalid Mehmood said for the first time the Chinese government was taking interest in rehabilitating the infrastructure of the state-run schools in Khyber Agency.“In the first phase of the financial assistance by Chinese government, they will reconstruct and repair 68 government-run schools that had been destroyed by militants during the last several years in Bara,” he said.

He said 98 schools had been destroyed by terrorists in Bara. He added that the government had reconstructed 16 of these schools and provided solar systems to run the facilities.“With the financial assistance of the Governor Special Development Programme (GSDP), six-room schools had been constructed at a cost of Rs12 million,” he pointed out.

The political agent said that not only schools, but other installations had also been affected by terrorist activities.He explained that a sum of Rs1.8 billion had been allocated in the Annual Development Programme this year for 232 different projects in Khyber Agency.

“We have started activities to set up modern schools. As peace had been restored in most parts of Khyber Agency, we are now focusing attention on health and education sectors,” he added.

The official said that work on Rural Health Centres (RHCs) in Loey Shalman and Bazaar Zakhakhel was underway and it would be completed in two years.He added that the Landi Khana water supply scheme in Landikotal was one of the mega projects aimed at providing drinking water to 80 percent of the residents in Landikotal.

He said that Rs4 million had been released to the Education Department to provide the missing facilities in government schools. The political agent said they were in contact with the Fata Secretariat to ensure provision of teaching staff to the degree college and specialist doctors to the hospital in Landikotal.