CM hopes reservations about CPEC project to be over

Says Minister Ahsan Iqbal due on Jan 6 to discuss issue

NOWSHERA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said on Sunday the federal government had contacted the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa government to remove the latter’s reservations over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Project.

Speaking at three different public meetings in Nowshera Kalan, Nawan Killay Nowshera Kalan and Kheshgi Payan, he said Federal Minister for Planning Commission Ihsan Iqbal would visit Peshawar on January 6 to meet the provincial government representatives and discuss the reservations addressed by it.

The chief minister said the incentives which Punjab and other provinces were getting will have to be given to KP. “We will not settle for mere a road but complete infrastructure along with other requisite facilities,” he added.

Pervez Khattak said he had told that Federal Minister Ihsan Iqbal that KP needs not a mere road but all facilities and incentives. “I hope talks will resolve all the issues,” he said while addressing a public meeting.

Of the hydel power profits, the chief minister said that it used to be Rs 6 billion and had been increased now to Rs 18.7 billion. He said that federal government was yet to pay Rs 101billion to the KP in this head, adding talks were going on with the Centre over the additional gas supply.

The chief minister said that KP was in a state of war. He said the regional peace was linked to peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pervez Kahttak said the provincial government was setting a good precedent of good governance and will form the next government here through its performance.

Several political workers from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Awami National Party and local councilors announced quitting respective parties and joining PTI. KP Minister for Excise and Taxation Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel, Nowshera District Nazim Liaqat Khan Khattak and others also spoke on the occasion.