PESHAWAR: Elections in the seven tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the provincial assembly will be held before May 2019, President Dr Arif Alvi was informed here on Friday.

Dr Alvi was briefed during a high-level meeting about the legal and administrative affairs in the seven tribal districts, which were merged with KP in May 2018 after amendment to the Constitution, said an official statement.

KP Governor Shah Farman, Speaker of the KP Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, chief secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch and provincial ministers attended the meeting at the Governor’s House.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan missed the meeting as he was in Islamabad.

The president was told that preparations were under way for holding elections in seven districts.

The delimitation of those areas will be completed by the end of next month, while elections will be held there before next May.

The statement said a cabinet committee was formed to reconstitute the administrative structure in the merged districts.

The committee headed by minister Mohammad Atif will present its report to the cabinet within 15 days.

The briefing was told that the Levies Force and Khasadar Force would not be abolished.

Under the constitutional amendment, the government was bound to hold elections in the erstwhile Fata for the KP Assembly within a year. The local government elections will take place there afterward.

The statement said President Alvi was also briefed about the ongoing multibillion rupees Bus Rapid Transit project in Peshawar and that the project would be completed in next April.

The statement said the bus project would comprise 68 kilometers feeder routes on which a total of 230 buses would run.

It added that the project’s estimated cost was around Rs69 billion for which the previous provincial government obtained loan from the Asian Development Bank.

The president directed the relevant officials to ensure the early completion of the project.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2018