PESHAWAR, Aug 16: Development schemes completed over the past four years in Fata has no precedence in the entire history of the country, claimed Fata chief engineer.

The condition of life of he tribal people had undergone a qualitative change with the development of remote mountainous and backward areas in all the seven tribal agencies on a uniform basis, Amir Shahnawaz Khan, the Fata chief engineer, said.

The inaccessible and closed tribal areas have been opened up and thorny issues settled with tribal people through peaceful means. Similarly, development schemes of different nature have been completed in record time to improve the socio-economic condition of tribal people, the chief engineer said.

He gave credit for all this to NWFP Governor Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah. The development allocations for Fata registered a constant upward growth since 2000-01.

In communications sector, he said, 500-km-long roads would be constructed at a cost of Rs1,450 million in 2004-05. Twenty bridges would also be constructed during the period at an estimated cost of Rs3,000 million. Giving a breakdown of sector-wise achievements, Mr Khan said that Rs169 million were spent on 80km road projects in 2000-01. -APP