Merged Areas’ faces no
shortage of funds: Saif

PESHAWAR (APP): The development of merged districts topped the priority list of the provincial government as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were adding their share for this purpose from their National Finance Award (NFC).
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan the tribal districts were heading towards prosperity and development. There was no shortage of funds to achieve the development goal for the merged districts and soon these areas would witness a positive and visible change.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister for Information, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif and Provincial Minister for Irrigation, Arshad Ayub Khan said this during a joint media briefing here on Wednesday.
Barrister Saif said the KP government was in contact with the Balochistan government for adding their share from the National Finance Award for the development process of merged districts. In merged districts, he said dams were being constructed for the effective utilization of water resources.
He said the provincial government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, has prepared a comprehensive and workable framework to bring the newly merged districts at par with the settled areas.
Minister Irrigation, Arshad Ayub Khan said to materialize the vision of the provincial government, the Irrigation Department has started simultaneous work on both administrative and development sectors for the early development of the merged districts.
He said a separate wing of the offices of Chief Engineer for merged districts has also been established to provide all needed assistance to the local people at their doorstep. Besides, he said in every tribal district the office of Chief Engineer would be set up.
He said the former FDS Small Dams Section along with its planning section has been linked with DG Small Dams for the rapid execution of the projects.
In the development sector of the merged districts, he said 35 uplift projects costing PKR 9 billion have been initiated under the Annual Development Program (ADP). Under Accelerated Integrated Program (AIP), Ayub said 24 new projects have been started in merged districts costing a hefty amount of PKR 35 billion.
The AIP projects, he said, also included a PKR 10 billion Jabba Dam project that would provide clean drinking water to over one million people from Peshawar and Khyber districts.
The water capacity of Jabba Dam has been increased to 37982 acres that would also help save the Khyber district from flood waters.
The water storage capacity of Bara Dam would be 85000 acres feet – that would not only generate six megawatt electricity but also irrigate 41729 acres feet of barren land. With an estimated cost of PKR 8.8 billion, he informed that work on seven small dams has been started that would irrigate 14135 acres of barren land. The Irrigation Mi-nister informed that Ragh-gan and Abdul Shakoor dams have successfully been completed with a cost of PKR 1201 million.
The construction and improvement of Warsak Canal Left Bank has been started that would irrigate 10000 acres of land in Mohmand district.
To provide irrigation water to 44772 acres of land of Khyber district, he said the project of expansion and remodeling of Bara River Canal System had been initiated.
To streamline the irrigation water utilization affairs, he said work on 200 check dams and water storage facilities has been started. Besides, he said a project to install 475 solar tube-wells has been started to bring 12000 acres of Bara under cultivation.
Likewise, he said work on construction and improvement of 420 water channels has also been started to bring 25000 acres of land under irrigation program in merged districts.