June 26, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 21, 1429

PESHAWAR, June 25: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas will get Rs8.662 billion for the Annual Development Programme for financial year 2008-09, showing an increase of 30 per cent over the previous year, officials said.

The size of last year’s ADP was Rs6.60 billion. Officials said 77 per cent of the new ADP funds would go to ongoing development schemes in the seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions and the remaining amount would be spent on new schemes.

The ADP is likely to be presented to NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani in the next couple of days for approval.

Preparation of the ADP for Fata is in final stage and all stakeholders, including parliamentarians from the area and political agents, have presented their proposals and schemes for the next fiscal year. Normally, development schemes proposed by respective political agents are given preference.

Sources said Rs862 million had been proposed to allocate to the Fata Development Authority for carrying out development schemes in different sectors in the tribal region. The authority will undertake development schemes in irrigation, mineral, industrial and skill development sectors.

The education sector will receive a major share of the ADP followed by health. The long-awaited Shalman water supply scheme in Landi Kotal, Khyber Agency, has been reflected in the ADP and Rs200 million has been proposed for it.

The Shalman scheme had been proposed in the 2004 ADP and feasibility of the scheme had been completed, but work on the project could not be initiated. About 100,000 inhabitants of the Landi Kotal tehsil will get clean drinking water under the project.

Meanwhile, the Fata Development Authority has prepared a plan to carry out a feasibility study in 450 villages of the tribal region to ascertain the possibility of providing solar energy and solar pumping for drinking water, said a handout issued here on Wednesday.