CM directs officials to finalise Safe City Project

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Saturday directed the officials concerned to finalise the Safe City Project Peshawar on the pattern of similar projects executed in Lahore and Islamabad.

A handout said that he was presiding over a meeting at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

Provincial spokesperson and Advisor to chief minister on merged districts Ajmal Khan Wazir, Chief Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, Secretary Planning and Development, Secretary Home, Secretary Information Technology and others attended the meeting.

The meeting was briefed about the cost and implementation strategy of the Safe City Project Peshawar, the identification of land and revision of the PC-1.

The chief minister directed the officials to accelerate the finalisation of home work on the project.

He directed the chief secretary to review all aspects of the project and finalise recommendations to put the Safe City Project Peshawar into the implementation phase. He directed him to include KP IT Board in the project.

Mahmood Khan hoped the project would become a unique scheme throughout the province.

He warned against any delay in the project and said no laxity in the execution of this project would be tolerable. He said all resources would be used for the completion of the Safe City Project to the benefit for the people of Peshawar.

He said this project would help further improve the law and order situation in the provincial capital.

Torkham 2nd biggest station of exports: Collector Model Customs Collectorate Dr Saeed Jadoon has said that after Karachi, major exports are being carried out through Torkham customs station, which has now jumped up to $1 billion annually.

He was speaking at a function organised in connection with the International Customs Day at the Customs House here on Saturday.

Those present on the occasion included retired and in-service customs officials, Additional Collector Dr Ihsan, Deputy Collector Najeeb Arjumand, Director Trade and Transit Arshad Habib and Sher Nawaz Khan, while former chief commissioner income tax Jehanzeb Khan was chief guest at the function.

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) president Faiz Muhammad Faizi and Customs Clearing Agents Association president Ziaul Haq Sarhadi were also present.

Dr Saeed Jadoon said that initially there were some issues with the operation of Web-Based Customs (Weboc) at Torkham. “And now all such snags have been removed,” he said, adding, “Torkham is now the main station where the system is being used thoroughly.”

About the importance of the International Customs Day, he said it’s being commemorated every year to assess and review the objectives and targets set for the Customs across the world.

He added the theme for this year’s day is Smart Borders for Seamless Trade, Travel and Transport, which reflects the fact that the expectations of travellers and businesses around the world are changing. Jadoon also sought cooperation of the general public to fight the menace of smuggling so that the national revenue collection and generation could be enhanced.