25 April 2004	Sunday	04 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, April 24: Federal Minister for Agriculture Yar Mohammad Rind has said that the government has planned mega projects to boost agriculture sector in the Frontier province.

He said this during a meeting with Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani at the Frontier House here on Saturday.

The minister told the chief minister that a mega project worth Rs1 billion was being prepared for strengthening and revival of institutions that had become redundant when various autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies were merged.

This would provide strong support to the agriculture sector development and would make it responsive to the demand for wheat and other crops and would also boost livestock growth in the province, Mr Rind said.

The meeting was also attended by the provincial minister for agriculture, joint secretary of the federal government, NWFP additional chief secretary, secretary finance and others.

Mr Rind said that the Frontier province would have a share of Rs3 billion in the Rod Kohi and hail-torrent projects. The federal government is about to release Rs30 million for storage of floodwater in the southern districts.

The minister said that Rs250 million had been approved for the promotion of olive, tea and other saplings used in pharmaceutical production. The original amount of the project was Rs1.5 billion, he added.

The NWFP would also receive Rs8 billion for the construction of 10,000 watercourses under the on farm water management project, while it would receive Rs75 million under the PM Water Channel improvement and rehabilitation programme, Mr Rind said.