PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) on Tuesday approved 37 new development projects, involving a total investment of Rs19.6 billion, according to a handout.

The PDWP meeting held under the chairmanship of additional chief secretary of the province Khalid Pervez reviewed and approved new project plans of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department, Higher Education Department, and the Health Department.

Besides, projects belonging to the water, roads, building, urban development, regional development, research and development, energy and power, social welfare, and information technology sectors were also approved.

The projects have been approved at a time when over seven months of the current financial year have already completed, leaving the provincial government’s existing annual development programme in disarray.

According to the handout, the new projects included a development scheme of the law and justice sector involving total investment of Rs324 million, a project of the home sector involving an estimated completion cost of Rs1.78 billion, and the ST & IT sector project of Rs85 million.

Similarly, three water sector projects with an accumulative estimated cost of Rs845 million were also approved and so were six road sector projects of Rs2.58 billion, two building sector projects of Rs188 million, one urban development project of Rs2.11 billion, a regional development sector project of Rs37 million, four research and development sector projects with an accumulative estimated cost of Rs255 million, two energy sector projects of Rs4.76 billion, 10 higher education sector projects of Rs2.11 billion, three health sector projects involving total investment of Rs2.54 billion, and two social welfare sector projects of an accumulated investment of Rs1.96 billion.

The secretaries of the provincial government departments and officers of the sponsoring agencies attended the PDWP meeting.