May 6, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1424

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PESHAWAR, May 5: The NWFP governor, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, has said that the province has not only undergone tremendous economic pressure due to the influx of the Afghan refugees during the past over two decades, but they are still creating socio-economic problems for the province.

Talking to the visiting 15-member group of diplomats from African countries, undergoing training at Foreign Service Academy, Islamabad, which called on him at the Governor’s House on Monday, he said: “the situation has become much more grave due to the stoppage of the foreign assistance for these refugees and we have been bearing the entire burden alone since 1996.”

Though, he added, the repatriation process of the refugees has already been started yet the majority of the refugees is still residing in Pakistan particularly in the NWFP and bringing negative effects on the society both from economic and social aspects.

The governor said, the province has a great potential for economic development and keeping this fact in mind the government is focussing upon exploitation of water resources not only to generate hydel power but also to develop the farm sector.

Mr Shah said for the hydel power generation a huge project in the name of Malakand-III has already been launched. On completion, the governor said, it will have the capacity to generate 81 MW electricity which will be utilized for industrial development and the decision has already been taken to establish and industrial estate near by the project.

Similarly, he added, a number of other projects are also under consideration for implementation purposes. In fact, he said, this province enjoys a unique position with lush green valleys and snow covered mountains in the North; highly fertile fields having potential to produce different verities of crops in its central districts and vast tracts of lands in the South which are lying barren just for the want of water.

The governor also briefed the delegates about the salient features of the administrative set-up as well as the historical background of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and said that the system of governance in all the seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions is totally different from that of the province.

Under the prevailing administrative system, he remarked, the administrative affairs are being run under the principle of collective responsibilities. However, he said, we have also decided to introduce reforms through an evolutionary process in FATA, which are already enjoying representation in National Assembly as well as the Senate.