ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: President General Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday said that all ongoing development projects in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) should be completed on schedule.

During a meeting with NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, the president said that there was a need to accelerate the pace of development projects in Fata. These areas, he observed, had remained underdeveloped in the past and needed to be brought on a par with other parts of the country.

The governor apprised the president of the security environment in Fata and political initiatives, including agreements reached and ongoing discussions with various tribes to improve the law and order situation.

He said various projects in the education, health, water, irrigation and road sectors were being executed in Fata by the federal government. In the financial year 2004-05, he pointed out, Rs880 million had been allocated for education, Rs840 million for road and tracks, Rs424 million for health, Rs252 million for water supply schemes, Rs265 million for agriculture and Rs480 million had been set aside for irrigation.

The governor said that emphasis was being laid on the construction of small dams of which two had already been built and work on six others was going on. Six more small dam projects would commence later this year.

He said a number of development projects had also been undertaken in Fata under the auspices of the Pakistan Army and the governor's special package for the North and South Waziristan Agencies. He said there had been a positive response from the people of the area to these schemes.