Islamabad February 25, 2009:- President Asif Ali Zardari today advised the government to immediately undertake implementation of the over 25 billion rupees development package for Frontier province and FATA finalized recently as an important element of the strategy to fight militancy in the affected areas.
In a statement today Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that the President had during his recent visit to Frontier province announced that a heavy development package for Frontier and FATA would soon be launched. After the Presidential announcement the government cleared the development proposals and gave go ahead signal. A Monitoring Committee was constituted to ensure speedy completion of the formalities to undertake the projects, he said.
He said that the development package for Frontier province comprises of construction of Tank Zam Dam, building of additional 1,000 primary schools including 700 for girls, a new hospital known as Shaheed Benazir Bhutto hospital, greater Water Supply Scheme for Peshawar, a children hospital besides infrastructure development including up-gradation and remodeling of Southern Bypass and construction of a new road link to the Southern districts bypassing the Kohat tunnel.
Besides, the package includes provision of medical equipments and ambulances for all district Hospitals and construction of a Trauma Centre at Peshawar. The package sets aside one billion rupees for the rehabilitation and development of Swat ravaged recently by militant activities.
Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that the President advised that special attention be paid to the implementation of the development package for Swat at a cost of one billion rupees and the construction of primary schools in the province costing Rs. 3.5 billion. The President advised that special emphasis be placed on rebuilding the schools in Swat and other areas which were damaged during recent operations. The President also called for the reopening of all closed schools.
The Spokesperson said that the rupees one billion development package for Swat is meant for rehabilitation of the affected areas due to militancy and implementation of poverty reduction and economic growth programmes in Swat.
The proposed Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Peshawar costing 2 billion rupees had been announced by the former Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto during her tenure but remained unimplemented so far. The Tank Zam Dam project in District Tank which will be built at a cost 6.00 billion rupees will irrigate 45000 acres of land beside generating 25 mega watt of electric power, he said.
Explaining the significance of various development projects the Spokesperson said that the over 3 billion rupees up gradation of the Southern Bypass is part of the Ring Road master plan which was pending for resource constraints when completed will reduce one third of the traffic congestion in Peshawar city. The greater water supply scheme at a cost of 3 billion rupees will provide portable drinking water to those areas of District Peshawar where the facility is not adequately available, he said.
The development package also includes a strategically important Nowshera "“Nizampur Kohat alternate road link to maintain road access to southern districts of the province and Baluchistan from Peshawar . He said that the unrest in FATA and Frontier regions recently forced the closure of Kohat Tunnel and blocking road access to the southern districts from Peshawar necessitating the devolvement of an alternate route. A burns and trauma center is also included in the package as the incidents of burns patients had increased in the recent past due to terrorist activities but there is no facility for treating burns victims in Peshawar.
The government has already set up a Monitoring Committee to oversee the implementation of Frontier Development Package. The Committee comprises of Secretary, Planning & Development Division as Chairman and includes Secretary Finance Division, Chief Secretary, NWFP, Additional Chief Secretary, NWFP and Additional Chief Secretary, FATA as members.
The Spokesperson said that on the advice of the President government has already released 340 million rupees for payment of compensation to the families of the victims of suicide bombing and militant attacks and another Rs.280 million for disbursement amongst heirs of victims of militancy in the tribal areas. The President directed that the process of payment of compensation be set emotion immediately and the Presidency kept informed on a daily basis.