Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has directed the concerned authorities for immediate necessary steps to stop unauthorized constructions in Kalam, Kumrat and other tourists’ spots of the province.
He was chairing a meeting here the other day to review progress on
various initiatives of the provincial government to boost tourism activities in the province, said an official handout issued here on Sunday.
Member provincial Assembly Mian Sharafat Ali, Principal Secretary to CM Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary Tourism Abid Majeed, Secretary Communications and Works Ijaz Hussain Ansari, Secretary Local Government Mian Shakil Ahmad, Secretary Planning Aamir Tareen and other concerned officials attended the meeting.
The chief minister further directed to expedite work on the construction of access roads to tourist areas of Malakand, Hazara and Southern districts.
The Chief Minister has also directed the quarters concerned to carry out assessment survey of all the rest houses owned by
various provincial departments so that suitable rest houses could be handed over to tourism departments to be used for the promotion of tourism activities.
Mahmood Khan directed the high ups of Finance Departments to immediately release the remaining amount of funds to take over the rest houses of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation by the provincial government so that those rest houses could be utilized for tourism activities without any delay. Taking notice of delay in the implementation on certain tourism access roads projects in Hazara Di
vision, the chair decided to constitute a committee comprising Secretary Tourism, Secretary Communications, Secretary Energy and other concerned officials, and directed the committee members to jointly visit the site of those projects and come up with solid proposals within one month to be placed before the provincial
cabinet for consideration.
Briefing the meeting about the progress on the establishment of Special Purpose Developm
ent Authorities on tourist areas of provincial it was tol
d that draft act had been cleared by the provincial
cabinet to establish Kalam Developm
ent Authority on the analogy of Galiyat Developm
ent Authority which would soon be tabled in the provincial assembly for enactment.
Similarly, Board of Directors has been notified for Kumrat Developm
ent Authority whereas building codes and other related matters of Kumrat Developm
ent Authority have been finalized and will be presented to the board for formal approval within one week time. The meeting was informe
d that work is in progress on the establishment of Kalash Developm
ent Authority as well.
Regarding the progress on tourism roads it was tol
d that considerable progress has been made on the construction of
various tourism roads in Malakand Di
vision whereas work on the construction of two different roads to the historical tourist spot of southern districts, Shaikh Badeen is also underway as per the given timelines.
It was further apprise
d that work on the construction of certain tourism roads in Hazara Di
vision is delayed due to some unavoidable reasons, and approval of the provincial
cabinet is needed to proceed further in the matter.
The meeting was further informe
d that on the special directives of the Chief Minister operation is in progress against unauthorized construction activities in Kalam and Kumrat areas, and adde
d that section 144 had been enforced, ban on registry, on fresh construction and on issuance of NoCs by concerned TMAs had been imposed in those areas.