Times Report
PESHAWAR: Under the chairmanship of Advisor to the KP Chief Minister on Finance and Inter-Provincial Coordination Muzzammil Aslam, a high-level meeting regarding the Peshawar to Dera Ismail Khan Motorway and Swat Expressway Phase Two was held in the Finance Department Committee Room here on yesterday.
Representatives from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Public-Private Partnership Unit of the Planning and development department, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (PKHA), the Communication and Works Department (C&W), and officials from the Finance Department attended the meeting.
On this occasion, significant progress was made regarding the financial matters of both mega projects, and the Finance Department assured that the financial matters of the mega projects would be resolved.
The Advisor on Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that the initial estimated cost of the Peshawar to Dera Ismail Khan Motorway is 316 billion rupees, while the estimated cost of Swat Expressway Phase Two is 36 billion rupees.
Muzzammil Aslam said that more than half of the funding for the Peshawar to D.I. Khan Motorway will be provided by the provincial government from its own resources, and so far, no provincial government in Pakistan has initiated such large-scale projects from its own resources.
Muzzammil Aslam said that both motorways will connect areas across the entire province with one another, and nearly all districts of the province will have access to easy travel facilities.
The Advisor on Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that these two flagship projects will prove to be significant milestones in the economic and tourism development of the province, and the relevant departments will sit together to present practical proposals for final approval regarding the construction of the proposed motorways.
In another statement, Advisor on Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muzammil Aslam reacted to the federal government’s double standards towards the provinces, saying that it came to his knowledge through the media that the Federal Bureau of Statistics has set up a camp in the constituency of a minority minister from Punjab, which has been named the “Damage Assessment Pilot Project.”
The Advisor on Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said, “Did the floods come first in the minister’s constituency or in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan. Is this not a misuse of authority and a double standard?”
He said, “Is it not injustice to exclude the other flood-affected provinces from this project? How long will narrow-mindedness and double standards continue in the country?
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