PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed inclusion of an education city project in North Waziristan tribal district in the 10-year development plan for the merged districts.

The education city will be set up at an area of 1,000 kanals. He issued the directives while chairing a meeting here on Monday, according to a statement.

Mahmood Khan told the meeting that provision of quality education, especially female education, in the newly-merged districts was the priority of the provincial government.

He was told that TOCHI Organisation had acquired the requisite land in Pir Kalay Tappi at the junction of the three subdivisions of North Waziristan for the project to benefit people from across the district.

The meeting was told that the objective of the education city was to increase literacy rate in North Waziristan which is the lowest in the merged districts. The education city will provide conducive educational environment to promote women education and also reduce poverty by providing technical education to the people, thus enabling them to earn their livelihood.

Under the master plan, the education city will consist of private universities, UET North Waziristan University, the University of Waziristan, an agriculture university, hostels, water reservoirs, mosques, a medical college and teaching hospitals, a sports complex, emergency services and community spaces.

The feasibility of the project, estimated to cost Rs1.5 billion, has already been made.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2019