PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Thursday formally inaugurated the Heritage Trail Project from Gor Khatri to Ghanta Ghar in the old quarters of the city, adding efforts were being made to facelift Peshawar to make it clean and green for dwellers and tourists. Member Provincial Assembly Shaukat Yousafzai, Secretary Sports, Tourism, Archaeology, Museums, Culture and Youth Affairs Muhammad Tariq, Director Archaeology Abdul Samad, Peshawar District Nazim Muhammad Asim Khan, and others were also present on the occasion. The chief minister said the province was in a shambles due to militancy and terrorism when they came into power but now peace had been restored and businesses, trade and development works go hand in hand. “The Heritage Trail Project will be completed at a cost of Rs301.5 million to renovate and refurbish facade or outer appearances of 75 heritage buildings and structures out of 150 with a cultural and historical touch along 450 meters distance in this historic City of Peshawar,” Pervez Khattak said, while explaining the salient features of the project. He said the shopkeepers and traders affected from the Heritage Trail Project would be compensated. The chief minister said that the promise of bringing about a ‘change’ made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government was going to materialize soon. He said every street and road in Peshawar would be reconstructed and rehabilitated, adding that the provincial government was spending Rs8 billion on the reconstruction of a road from Charsadda Road to Hayatabad. “We are also going to inaugurate the biggest zoo of the country in Peshawar within a month time,” the chief minister said and added that because of huge legislation the citizens now have the power to even check and question his expenses. The provincial government has started work on developing a ‘Cultural Heritage Trail’ to attract domestic and foreign tourists. The project, which aims at making access to historical landmarks in Peshawar easier, will be completed in around four months and will help to showcase the city’s historical past in a more pleasant manner. The heritage trail starts at the historical Ghanta Ghar and passes through Bazaar-e-Kalaan and the Mohallah Sethian. The mohallah has a number of beautiful houses which were got constructed by the members of wealthy Sethi family way back in 1880s. While the project was announced almost some time back, but the construction work delayed due to different stakeholders including WAPDA and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.
