CHITRAL: Commencement of work on two major projects in road infrastructure and higher education sectors might not be possible during the current fiscal year because of low allocation of funds in the provincial budget for acquisition of land for them, sources said.

They said the projects of expansion of Ayun-Kalash road and construction of the building of University of Chitral were being funded by the federal government, but the land for these projects was to be provided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, costing Rs2 billion and Rs1.9 billion, respectively.

The sources told Dawn that the provincial government had approved funds for land acquisition in the recent budget, but the allocation of Rs50 million each for the two projects was too small and the revenue department would not be able to acquire the land under the Compulsory Land Acquisition Act.

They said that the federal government had allocated Rs4.65 billion for the road project, but the National Highway Authority could not go ahead till the land was acquired by the provincial government required for expansion of its width to 32 feet from the present six feet.

The schemes include construction of varsity building and Kalash road expansion

An officer of the revenue department said that for land acquisition full allocation of funds was required for payment to the landowners as required under the rules.

The University of Chitral project pertained to the era of Nawaz Sharif government and the federal government had allocated Rs3 billion for construction of its building in 2017-18 budget, but it could not be utilised as then provincial government did not acquire the land.

A source in the university said the amount had been reflected in the budgets of the federal government since 2018, but the provincial government had not approved funds for purchase of land till December last year when the chief minister announced Rs1.9 billion as non-ADP project.

He said the amount could not be released by the provincial government as promised and only Rs50 million was allocated leading to further delay.

When contacted, special assistant to the chief minister on minorities affairs, Wazir Zada, insisted that the required funds would be released as and when the revenue department fulfilled the codal formalities by promulgating different sections of the Land Acquisition Act.

He said the Provincial Development Working Party would approve the release of the amount finally calculated and required by the revenue department.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2021