PESHAWAR:The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has urged the federation to give special attention to the newly merged districts (NMDs) of the province in the upcoming 13th national five-year plan (2024-29).
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Minister for Newly Merged Districts Affairs, Industries, Commerce and Technical Education, Dr. Aamer Abdullah in this regard, has forwarded suggested projects to the Planning Commission Islamabad pertaining to communication and works, trade and IT sector, industrial development, energy, agriculture, irrigation, health, education and other sectors in NMDs that will be included in PSDP under five years new plan, says a handout.
In proposed communication projects construction of Peshawar, Mohmand, Bajaur and Timergara’s four-line Motorway has been included.
Similarly, maintenance and rehabilitation of existing trade corridors in NMDs, at a cost of 10 billion rupees is also included in these proposals.
The provincial minister has proposed the establishment of Axle Load Control
Regime on the provincial highways to protect the roads from overloading in five places of the merged districts at a cost of 500 million rupees, while at a cost of one billion rupees on important national and provincial highways Service/Rest areas will be developed. Furthermore, all the merged districts will be connected with each other through the highway.
The provincial minister also proposed to include the construction of Peshawar, Tirah, Orakzai and Para Chinar road for the promotion of tourism and connectivity, while 40 km of Sara Roga Sarwaki road, 120 km of Wana Jandola road and Wana Tank road.
Construction of 180 km Pezo Makeen Mangalotai road to connect the region with D.I.Khan motorway, construction of a new road to connect the coal extraction sites areas in Orakzai with district headquarters, construction of an alternative road to Kuram for communication link to the province through Tirah and Orakzai have also been included in proposals.
Similarly, the minister proposed for the national plan tha
t fiber optic connectivity will be provided in 8 district headquarters and 25 tehsil headquarters to ensure the availability of better internet facilities in the merged districts.
Likewise, for the promotion of border trade, the establishment of new border markets and border city centres along with the establishment of customs stations in the districts of Khyber, Bajaur, Mohmand, and South Waziristan Upper and Lower are also included in the proposals of the caretaker minister.
The provincial minister has proposed to provide energy to the populace from an off-grade solar system at a cost of 30 billion rupees in all the merged districts, while the construction of Bara Dam Khyber, Larazan Dam Tank, Khan Mir Kalay Dam Orakzai and Tank-Zam Dam are also included in these proposals.
Similarly, the provincial minister has proposed the solarization of all basic health units in these districts and the promotion of macro hydropower or solar energy development in these areas by giving incentives to the private sector
for inclusion in the national plan.
Moreover, the caretaker minister has also forwarded various projects worth billions of rupees related to industrial development, minerals, agriculture, irrigation, forestry, vocational education and training, health, tourism and many other areas of social development for NMDs to include in the five-year plan under the federal government.