PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has notified rules for the establishment of development authorities to promote tourism in Kalam and Kumrat areas of Swat and Upper Dir districts.

An official told Dawn that the government has decided to set up three special authorities for tourism development in Kalam area of Swat district, Kumrat in Upper Dir district and Kalash valleys of Lower Chitral district.

He said the rules for setting up Kumrat and Kalam development authorities had been notified, while the notification of those for Kalash development authority would be issued in the next few days.

The rules have been framed under the KP Tourism Act, 2019.

Official says Kalash authority notification will be issued shortly

According to Section 4 of the KP Special Purpose Development Authority Rules, the authority will comprise 12 members including four from private sector, one local member of the provincial assembly from respective tehsil or constituency, six members from the government.

The government representatives will include the authority’s director general, a representative of the sports department, deputy commissioner of the relevant district, officials of the communication and works, and forest department, and tehsil municipal officers.

The private members of these authorities will be appointed by the chief minister, while the authority’s chairman will be elected from among private members for a period of one year.

The authorities have been given wide-ranging powers under the rules.

Under Section 6(4)a of the rules, the authority will prepare manage and implement through the relevant departments and any other government agency, feasible schemes of education, health, agriculture, industry, forest conservation and development, preservation of wildlife and promotion of tourism among other things.

It has been empowered to ‘sell, lease, exchange, transfer, mortgage, allot, rent, restore, cancel or otherwise dispose of or any deal in any property vested in or entrusted’ to it.

The authority will procure machinery and instruments and enter into contracts or any arrangement and will investigate and adjudicate on complaints and claims of the alleged contraventions of the rules and issue interim development orders for areas where schemes are ‘under preparation’.

The rules have also empowered these bodies to impose fine, levy taxes and collect fees or any other mans of assurances from lessees, and enforce and periodically revise urban designs and public safety and compliance with master plans.

They will also recover all arrears of taxes, fees, charges, rents and other monies within the areas, claimable by it as arrears of land revenue.

Section 7 of the rules empowers the authority to levy taxes, fees, charges for the services it provides within the area.

It can also collect or charge taxes or fee on at least 18 services in respect of services or facilities, extended or made available by it to the public, including fees and charges on account conservancy, maintenance of public parks, green belts or green areas.

The director general of the authority will be an officer of BPS-18 or BPS-19 from the federal or provincial services and will be appointed for a term not exceeding three years.

These authorities have also been empowered to seal buildings for violation of rules, penalising for encroachments and illegal housing schemes.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2020