MANSEHRA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) central vice-president MNA Sardar Mohammad Yusuf on Sunday said that federal government would revive all mega development projects approved by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and scrapped by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government after 2018.

“Thanks to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who secured soft loans of $41 million from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Mansehra’s gravity water supply scheme as this project was originally approved by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017 but it was later on scrapped by PTI federal government,” he told a press conference.

The press conference was attended by PML-N leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar, former federal minister Syed Qasim Shah, former Balakot tehsil chairman Junaid Ali Qasim, Mansehra tehsil chairman Sheikh Mohammad Shafee and Baffa-Pakhal tehsil chairman Sardar Shah Khan.

Sardar Mohammad Yusuf, who also served as federal minister for religious affairs, said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a Saudi delegation signed an agreement under which Saudi Arabia released $41 million for mega gravity water supply scheme, benefiting around 250,000 individuals.

“The prime minister is expected to visit soon Mansehra to inaugurate this project as well as the first-ever energy project of 880 megawatts Suki Kinari hydropower project, recently completed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Mr Yusuf said.

Retired captain Mohammad Safdar said that the PTI government scrapped the Mansehra airport and other mega development projects despite the fact that federal government released Rs1 billion in funds for them.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been strongly reconsidering revival of these and other such projects,” he said.

He said that execution of Mansehra-Muzafarabad Motorway, natural gas supply to Naran, mega tunnels at Babusar Top and Khaki-Oghi, and laying of a railway track from Havelian to Mansehra and beyond would soon commence.

“The federal government has been planning to turn Kaghan Valley up to Babusar Top into an all-weather tourist destination by constructing a long tunnel at Babusar Top, ensuring a constant connectivity between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan via Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road,” said Mr Safdar.

He said that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also approved Rs10 billion scholarships for students of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to study abroad.

“The Punjab government will also provide financial assistance for treatment of 100 hearing-impaired girls from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa annually and two Danish schools -- one each in Hazara division and Peshawar -- would be established,” said Mr Safdar.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2025