May 7, 2005	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1426

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PESHAWAR, May 6: The NWFP government has called upon the Planning Commission to give preference to its development schemes recommended for the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the next financial year because the province lacks financial capacity to include all important schemes in its own Annual Development Programme (ADP), sources have told Dawn.

The sources said Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani made the request during his meeting with Planning Commission’s deputy chairman hare on April 23.

They said the provincial chief economist and secretaries of different departments made presentations covering 52 schemes in different sectors which the province wanted included in the PSDP.

The two sides also discussed the federal government’s five-year plan, the medium term development framework 2005-10.

“The provincial government did not talk much about the framework and its representatives concentrated the development schemes which the province wants to be included in the PSDP,” said the sources.

Some officials who attended the meeting, however, told Dawn that the provincial government did not get any assurance during the meeting.

The NWFP government made a case for the inclusion of an irrigation project at the Chashma Right Bank Canal with an estimated cost of Rs29.3 billion, the Tank Zam dam project with a cost of Rs4.6 billion, 20 small dams involving an estimated cost of Rs2.6 billion, the Baizai irrigation scheme involving an estimated cost of Rs1.6 billion and the Tochi Baran link with an estimated cost of Rs500 million.

They said the chief minister attached importance to the Chashma Canal project, saying that it would boost the agriculture sector in the southern districts of the province, which had vast cultivable land lying unutilized because of non-availability of water.

However, according to the sources, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission said the project required a detailed feasibility study.

The provincial government was advised to take up its flood protection schemes with the Flood Commission, they said.

They said the commission agreed to include those schemes in the PSDP for which the provincial government had been assured financial support by the Japanese government and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The schemes proposed by the provincial government include the construction of Palai dam at a cost of Rs198 million, Sanam dam at Rs94 million, Kundal dam at Rs189 million and a Rs44million project for feasibility studies for small and delay action dams in the southern districts of the province.

The commission asked the province to send to the federal government it major schemes for improvement of road network and water supply infrastructure in the districts affected by snowfall and rains during winter, for clearance of electricity dues and rehabilitation of scores of tube-wells for their inclusion in the PSDP after approval from the Provincial Development Working Party.

The NWFP government, said the sources, had proposed the establishment of the Nowshera district headquarters hospital with an estimated cost of Rs828 million, an institute of cardiology in the provincial capital with an investment of Rs973 million and the construction of the building of a medical college at Gomal at a cost of Rs732 million.

The deputy chairman of the commission, said the sources, committed to consider the plan for Peshawar Institute of Cardiology and the Nowshera hospital but advised the provincial government to take up the medical college scheme with the Higher Education Commission.

For the primary education sector, five schemes were proposed involving an estimated cost of Rs972 million — establishment of Malakand Public School, four residential model schools in Kohistan district, a model school at Kotha in Swabi district, construction of boundary walls, latrines and water supply in 1,000 primary schools and improvement of facilities at the Peshawar Public School.

The commission’s members said the scheme pertaining to construction of boundary walls would be covered under an umbrella project.

They asked the province to include the remaining projects in its ADP.

The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, said the sources, asked the provincial government to come up proposals for establishment of cadet colleges in the province.