PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to establish development authorities for Malakand, Dir and Chitral and take action against unplanned construction in the tourist resorts.

Presiding over a meeting at Chief Minister Secretariat on Thursday, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak expressed concern over the unplanned and haphazard construction of houses and commercial structures as well as unhygienic condition in Kaghan, Naran. He directed the officials concerned to take action against it.

He asked the officials concerned to set up independent management board for Kaghan Development Authority to make it fully functional on the lines of Galyat Development Authority, said a statement.

The chief minister also issued directives for establishing separate development authorities for Malakand, Dir and Chitral and also ordered to finalise formation of board of directors (BoDs) for the divisional level Water and Sanitation Services Companies (WSSC) within three days.

Mr Khattak asked the officials to make other necessary arrangements for making those companies fully functional and enabling them to launch operations in all divisional headquarters of the province.

He said that such companies would be set up at district level throughout the province during the next financial year. He directed the divisional commissioners to propose purely professional and visionary persons of good repute for BoDs of WSSCs and avoid political figures and their relatives while making selection for the boards.

He, however, asked them to include nazims of the district government, and tehsil and town councils in the body.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Inayatullah, Mohammad Atif, Imtiaz Shahid, Akbar Ayub, Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Mahmood Khan and Qalandar Khan Lodhi, MPAs from six divisional headquarters, secretary local government and divisional commissioners excluding commissioner of Peshawar. The meeting reviewed in detail progress on launching of WSSCs and uplift and beautification of the divisional headquarters as well as ongoing anti-encroachment drive.

The chief minister directed the commissioners to ensure removal of remaining encroachments in the urban areas under their jurisdiction. He also directed to rehabilitate the retrieved state lands by providing traffic facilities and other necessary amenities.

In response to a complaint made by Swat MPAs Mohibullah and Azizullah Khan, Mr Khattak directed communication and works department to retrieve 2.5 kilometres long Mingora Bazar which was handed over to National Highway Authority. He also directed the commissioner of Hazara to take immediate measures for rehabilitating Karakoram Highway where encroachments were removed.

Published in Dawn October 9th, 2015

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