SWAT: Cleaning and excavation of the twin streams passing through Mingora were formally inaugurated by MPA Fazal Hakim Khan here the other day. Successive floods have gradually filled the streams with debris and silt since 2010. The devastating floods of 2025 further reduced their capacity, wreaking havoc across Mingora and other parts of Swat, claiming around 26 lives and inundating hundreds of houses and shops, causing losses worth billions of rupees.

MPA Fazal Hakim Khan, government officials and workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) attended the inauguration ceremony.

Speaking to media representatives on the occasion, Fazal Hakim Khan said that this year’s initiative would be implemented on a much broader and more effective scale than the comprehensive planning and work undertaken in 2015 for cleaning, excavating, and strengthening the streams, all to protect Mingora City and surrounding localities from flood hazards.

He said that the losses suffered by the public during previous floods remained a matter of great concern. Keeping those experiences in mind, the government has launched the cleaning and excavation campaign to ensure that rainwater and flood flows remain within their natural channels and do not enter residential areas during heavy rainfall and flash floods.

Fazal Hakim Khan explained that under the first phase of the project the streams would be cleaned and excavated to a depth of up to five feet. During the second phase, protective embankments would be constructed and strengthened to further improve flood protection measures.

He added that the objective of the project was to make Mingora city more resilient and better prepared to cope with future flood threats. The MPA emphasised that a people’s government is in place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and citizens have every right to monitor development projects. He urged the public to immediately report any substandard or poor-quality work, assuring them that strict action would be taken against those responsible and that no misuse of public resources would be tolerated.

Fazal Hakim Khan also directed the relevant authorities to ensure that all work is completed according to prescribed standards, with transparency and within the stipulated timeframe, so that the public can benefit from the project and urban communities can be protected from potential flood-related damage.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2026