APP
PESHAWAR
Special Assistant to the Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Information and Higher Education, Kamran Bangash has said that in the wake of merger of tribal districts, the past two years were not easy for the Planning and Development Department, however with effective strategy all challenges were successfully tackled and a vast network of development work was spread in tribal districts.
The government also adjusted the 95000 employees of merged districts successfully and saved them from any difficulty. The KP Planning and Development was the first department to initiate the Planning Commission Form Management System and made all the system to work automatically. The step he said will help encourage other departments to go for digitalization to save precious time and monitor the projects on best possible lines.
He along with Secretary Planning and Development, Hamayun Khan was briefing the media on two years performance of the department here on Thursday.
Secretary Planning and Development, Hamayun Khan said during the current month four meetings of the Provincial Development Working Party will be called in so that the approved projects could be started well in time and completed before the end of current fiscal year.
He said during the coronavirus situation, the department presented the real picture of the economy and its impact to the provincial government and offered workable suggestions to avoid difficult situations which included Corona Coping Strategy and ‘Azm e Nao’.
Under the Azm e Nao Program, he said with an estimated cost of Rs 29 billion, 43 necessary steps in 9 disciplines were adopted that provided a needed support to the economy. He said Rs 24 billion were spent during the fiscal year 2019-20 to speed up development works in merged districts.
Under the 10-year strategy, work under the Rapid Development Program will be carried out in the first three years. The department, he said, started a GIS system to check the real state of the ongoing development works which also helped in ascertaining the geographical position and importance of the projects.
For the effective inspection of projects initiated under Annual Development Program a comprehensive framework has been devised under which the Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate has complied 2666 reports with regard to last two years development works.
Secretary Planning, Hamayun Khan further said that work on big projects in merged districts was underway as in North Waziristan 16000 barren land was being brought under cultivation with an estimated cost of Rs3.3 billion. Likewise, he said Rs 8 billion were being spent on construction of Thall-Mir Ali road and Rs 3.2 billion on an effective program of livestock.
With the opening of Torkham Border 24/7 for trade activities, he said the federal government would get revenue of Rs 42 billion.
Special Assistant to the CM, Kamran Bangash on the occasion said following the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and under the headship of Chief Minister, Mahmood Khan the sense of deprivation among tribal people was being removed. The Chief Minister, he said, was himself monitoring the development process of merged districts and being briefed on a daily basis.
He said the Planning and Development Department was moving forward with its best policy and strategy in merged districts. He said under the leadership of Mahmood Khan the merged districts would soon be brought at par with the settled districts.
The Planning Department, he said a role of backbone in development of the province and its role in uplift of merged districts was of prime importance. He said the department completed the ten-year task of merger just within one year.
