KPHC approves road projects

PESHAWAR: The 17th meeting of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highways Council on Sunday approved provincialisation of six different roads of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan presided over the meeting, said a handout. The meeting also approved PKHA budget for the year 2019-20 worth of Rs.4693.360 million along with approving proposed maintenance plan for the year 2019-20 which is estimated as Rs2032.80 million.

The chief minister stressed the need for timely and quality completion of proposed projects to improve infrastructure in the province. He particularly directed that main and eventful roads of newly merged districts and other backward areas should be focused in this respect. The meeting was informed about the implementation status on the decisions taken in the previous meeting of the council and briefed in details about the new ADP schemes for 2019-20, budget and maintenance plan of Highways Authority.

In the meeting, provincialization of six different roads was approved that included 20 Km long Baryam to Gat road, 17 km long Khadagzai bridge to Chakdara road, 8.50 Km long Fatehpur to Miandam road, 29 Km long Oghi-Battagram road, 55 Km long Mardan-Katlang-Buner road and 10 km long Rahatkot to Sakhra road.

The change of name of Chappar Road to Shahrah-e-Tanawal and naming provincial highway eastern, western and northern bypass as Mardan Ring Road was approved. Purchase of snow clearance machinery for Barrian- Nathiagali-Abbottabad and Manglawar-MalamJabba roads costing Rs 180 million was also okayed.

Seminar held on Disaster Risk Reduction Day

To mark International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, Al-Khidmat Foundation arranged a seminar on Sunday where it was revealed that the foundation was going to set up a disaster management centre.

The seminar was addressed by the provincial president of the foundation Khalid Waqas Chamkani, district president of Jamaat-i-Islami Atiqur Rahman, former member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Mohammad Ali and others.

Speaking on the occasion, Khalid Waqas said that the Al-Khidmat Foundation was rendering matchless services in both natural and manmade disasters. He said the foundation was the biggest non-governmental entity working in disaster management with more than 7,000 trained volunteers.

He said that they had the largest number of volunteers in the country who were well trained for every kind of disasters. “Our volunteers have provided emergency services to the victims of 360 bomb explosions in the province during the past several years. They rendered great services in earthquakes and floods,” he added.

Also, the Al-Khidmat Foundation has the largest fleet of ambulances in the province, which remains busy round the clock providing emergency services to the victims of disasters.

“We have around 100 ambulances, which provide free services in times of emergency and in case of deaths,” he added. Khalid Waqas said that they have planned to set up a state-of-the-art disaster management centre in the provincial capital, where all arrangements regarding disasters would be made available.

But for the purpose they needed a plot of land, he said, and demanded the provincial government to provide them with a small piece of land where they could set up the centre.

He said that they have already identified the site and the district government has given them approval for the establishment of the building. But the provincial department for local government has raised some observation, due to which they were unable to set up the centre for the well-being of the masses, he said. Khalid Waqas believed that the foundation was not seeking the plot for free but on lease. The government should look into the matter and hand over the plot to the foundation so that construction on the centre could be launched at the earliest, he added.