PESHAWAR, Mar 31 (APP):A meeting of the Joint Steering Committee was held at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House Islamabad under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister to review fast track development projects in the merged districts. Federal cabinet members Ahsan Iqbal Ameer Muqam and Mubarak Zeb along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Muzammil Aslam attended the meeting. Addressing the meeting the CM said the provincial government had provided Rs 30.3 billion as …
Chief Minister urges release of funds for merged districts
PESHAWAR, Mar 31 (APP):A meeting of the Joint Steering Committee was held at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House Islamabad under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister to review fast track development projects in the merged districts.
Federal cabinet members Ahsan Iqbal Ameer Muqam and Mubarak Zeb along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Muzammil Aslam attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting the CM said the provincial government had provided Rs 30.3 billion as bridge financing for accelerated development projects while the federal government had not released any funds under the AIP during the current year.
He said the federal assurance to release Rs 20 billion was an important step for development of the merged districts adding that funds would be utilized on police infrastructure and high priority projects nearing completion.
The CM said the assurance to release Rs 9.3 billion for high impact projects was encouraging and emphasized that development and investment were essential in view of the prevailing law and order situation.
He said the province was also ready to contribute to solarization of households in the merged districts to benefit a larger population.
The Chief Minister said Rs 28 billion had been provided to enhance the capacity of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and equip it with modern weapons and equipment.
He said the merged districts had long been neglected and even after the merger their due share was being distributed among other provinces adding that over the past seven years Rs 1375 billion of their share had been allocated elsewhere.
He said the provincial government had already written to the Prime Minister regarding the NFC share of the merged districts and termed denial of their share as unjust.
He added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should receive its full financial resources as the population of merged districts had been included in the province.
Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the province should receive its due financial resources.
The meeting was informed that a summary for a new ADP scheme for solarization of households in the merged districts had been approved and its PC 1 would be presented in the PDWP meeting.
It was further informed that the PC 1 for strengthening FATA University had been approved and Rs 2.5 billion had been released.
Officials said Rs 7 billion allocated for police infrastructure in the merged districts had already been spent.
The meeting also considered a development scheme to provide technical skills and internship opportunities to one thousand youth in the merged districts.
