Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur has said that his government was committed to developing and improving all cities of the province including the newly merged tribal district.
A delegation of Asian Development Bank (ADB) called on K-P chief minister at Pakhtunkhwa House, Islamabad on Friday and discussed with him matters related to mutual cooperation with special focus on development projects of public welfare being carried out in the province with the financial assistance of the bank.
Provincial Minister Arshad Ayub was also present on the occasion. Talking on this occasion, the chief minister termed the ADB an important development partner of the provincial government and said that his government wanted to continue this partnership in a more integrated and an effective manner, adding that work on a number of development projects in the various sectors with the financial assistance of ADB was in progress.
However, the chief minister said that his government also wanted to further enhance and extend this mutual cooperation and partnership to different sectors including water supply, solar energy, flood protection, solid waste management, urban transport, agriculture, livestock, food security and other sectors of social services.
“We expect special cooperation from our partner for the development of newly merged districts and other backward areas of the province,”, he said and added that providing employment opportunities to the people and promoting self-employment among our talented youth are the priority areas of his government.
Apart from this, the government also plans to initiate a program for renovation of all major cities in the province. He further stated that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project assisted by ADB was an important project of the provincial government; we need special cooperation for implementing Phase-II of this project as well.
“The provincial government has a lot to do in different sectors specially in tourism, health, education, PHE and others,” he remarked and said that the government would like to work in a partnership with ADB for providing basic facilities in the sectors of social services.
Talking on the occasion, the delegates termed the coordination between the provincial government and ADB as exemplary one and said that performance of provincial government team regarding implementation of developmental projects had been remarkable adding that the ADB intended to further promote mutual cooperation and development partnership with the provincial government in different sectors.
On Thursday, in order to enhance forest cover in the province, Gandapur ordered launching of Billion Tree Plus project, and directed home work in this regard.
This he decided while chairing a meeting of the forest and environment department, held here at Chief Minister’s House Peshawar Thursday. Provincial Minister for Forest Fazal Hakim, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary Forest Nazar Hussain Shah and other relevant officials attended the meeting.
The Chief Minister on this occasion, was briefed about the performance, targets, administrative and other related matters of the department. Chief Minister has directed formulating an effective strategy for enhancing revenue collection of the department and preventing forest cutting in the province. He also directed substantial increase in the fines against illegal cutting and logging of forest timber, adding that amount of the fine should be more than the value of timber harvested so as to curb the elements that cause deforestation.
“CCTV cameras should be installed at all forest check posts to keep a close watch on timber smuggling and other illegal activities,” he directed. The Chief Minister further directed coming up with viable proposals and an action plan for promoting fisheries in the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2024.
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