KP govt gives final touches to ADP for fiscal year

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has given final touches to the draft of Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the fiscal year 2024-25. In this regard, the concluding round of four days long series of meetings, was held here at Chief Minister’s House Peshawar the other day, with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the chair, said a press release issued here on Thursday.

The meeting thoroughly reviewed and finalized all the ongoing and newly proposed projects to be reflected in the Annual Development Programme for the upcoming fiscal year. The chief minister made important policy decisions and issued necessary instructions in order to implement the proposed development programme in an efficient and befitting manner.

Addressing the participants, the chief minister said that the new Annual Development Programme has been drafted purely in the best public interest instead of any political expediency, adding that the Annual Development Programme will consist of such feasible projects that can be completed within the stipulated timelines.

“Ongoing development projects of public welfare would be completed on first priority,” he said and added that special focus would be given to improving the public services delivery in the far flung areas including the merged districts. Touching upon other priority areas under the new development budget, the chief minister said that green energy initiatives would be taken to deal with prevailing energy crisis in the country, under which, solarization of all public offices, educational institutions and other outlets would be carried out, whereas new road map would also be provided to utilize available hydro power resources in an efficient manner, thereby making this province self-sufficient in energy.

Beside, work would be initiated on establishing province-own transmission lines, grid stations and tariff systems. He maintained that providing tremendous employment opportunities to youth of the province, promoting industrial activities and attracting maximum investment towards potential sectors would also be among the top priorities of the incumbent provincial government. Locally produced electricity would be provided to industrial units at cheaper rates in addition to providing them with a conducive environment for investment in the province.

He made it clear that law and order, education, health, and food security were the priority sectors of the provincial government; the police force would be equipped with the latest arms and equipment, thereby enabling them to effectively deal with the prevailing law and order situation in the province. Similarly, he said that self-sufficiency in agricultural commodities was another priority area of the government; plans were also in pipe line for constructing small and large dams at feasible sites of the province, so as to ensure efficient use of available water resources for this purpose. Innovative research techniques and modern farming would also be promoted to increase per acre yield of agriculture commodities in the province, he added.

Moreover, he said that an assets management system would be introduced to have better management of public properties, and the Minerals Development and Management Company would be established to take full advantage of precious mineral resources, which will resultantly increase the revenue stream of the province. Ali Amin Gandapur has termed significant increase in the forest cover area of the province inevitable to deal with the negative impacts of climate change; a scientific management system is much needed to ensure preservation of existing forests in addition to promoting large scale new plantations for that purpose. He further said that short and long term plans would be devised in order to balance the population and resources of the province, as the rapidly growing population has become a serious problem of this country.