PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to provide alternative land for botanical garden of the University of Peshawar (UoP) on the request of its administration and establish two universities on the land of botanical garden at Azakhel Park. It was also decided to expedite work on the two universities.

A meeting to review progress on the establishment of two new universities was held at the CM Secretariat here with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the chair on Wednesday. Minister for Higher Education and Information Mushtaq Ghani, UoP vice-chancellor Dr Rasul Jan, UET VC Imtiaz Hussain Gilani, Agriculture University VC and other high-ups of departments concerned attended the meeting.

According to a handout, the chief minister has approved the establishment of the Air University and Technical University on a vast piece of land at Azakhel, on GT Road, and asked the authorities to take steps to expedite work on the projects and put them on ground in the shortest possible time.

The two universities would be set up on the land of a botanical garden spreading over 77 kanals, and 650 kanals of the district council, Nowshera.

CM approves establishment of two varsities at the facility in Nowshera

It was stated that the proposed Air University would be established under the auspices of Pakistan Air Force, while the Technical University would be established by the provincial higher education department.

The chief minister claimed that establishment of the two universities would contribute to the progress of the education sector. He said that technical education at university level would get boost and new opportunities of employment, research and innovation would be explored.

He said that Azakhel was suitable for the establishment of such educational institutions. He termed the promotion of technical education the need of the hour and the best way to address the core issue of unemployment.

He said that vocational and technical education would be promoted on modern lines, which would enhance employment opportunities for the jobless youth.

“Our province has suffered heavy losses because of discontinuation of policies and lack of decision power in the past regimes, but this will not happen anymore and now whatever decision is made it will be implemented and all such schemes of national importance will never be thrown in the cold storage,” the chief minister said.

He claimed that both the universities would not be limited to imparting traditional education and training, but these would be the hub of research and inventions where research work of international standard would be carried out.

The meeting was told that the scheme of Technical University had been included in the ADP 2013-14 with an allocation of Rs500 million initially, whereas the scheme of Air University would be financed and supported by Pakistan Air Force.

The chief minister asked the authorities to adopt high standards in the planning, designing and construction of both the universities. UoP VC assured the meeting that the botanical garden would be turned into a centre of research activities and a point of scenic beauty. Other VCs also assured the provincial government of all possible professional and technical assistance in establishment of the two universities at Azakhel.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014