MINGORA, Feb 16: MPA Mohammad Ameen has expressed his concern over the lack of basic facilities in his constituency and vowed to bring Mingora at a par with the developed areas of the province.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, he said that he was meeting the local government representatives in his constituency in order to work out a joint strategy for the identification of the problems and proper use of the development funds.

“An amount of Rs40 million has been approved for the construction of the casualty block and gynae ward in the central hospital, and the health minister has visited the Saidu group of hospitals and upgraded it to the level of teaching hospital. Staff, ambulance and other equipment would also be provided on priority basis,” he claimed.

Mohammad Ameen said that Sui gas would also provided by June this year.

He said that the revenue being generated by the municipal committee Mingora was districted among different union councils of the entire Swat district instead of the nine local union councils. He proposed that Mingora city be given the status of town council as the population was rapidly increasing and facilities were not.

He flayed the performance of the Malakand Rural Development projects (MRDP) and termed it a failure. He said the Rs4 billion projects did nothing for the people and funds were being lavishly spent on non-developmental programmes.

He said the procedure was so complicated that the people have not been able to benefit from it even after three years. Mingora had not been included in the project areas, he complained.

He said that the MMA government was sincere in enforcing the Islamic system in its true sense at least in the NWFP.