PESHAWAR, Feb 9: The NWFP government has decided to transfer the control of the Building Control Authority (BCA) from the city district government to the City Development and Municipal Department (CDMD), a provincial minister said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Peshawar Press Club's Guest Hour programme, Local Government and Rural Development Minister Sardar Mohammad Idrees said the move would help check unplanned construction in the city.

He said the matter had been discussed at a provincial cabinet's meeting and the CDMD would be directed soon to take over the authority. He said the feasibility study of a water supply scheme from the Warsak Dam to Peshawar had started and would be completed soon.

Mr Idrees said the government would soon undertake various projects to restore beauty of the provincial metropolis and improve its civic infrastructure and added that waste treatment plants would be set up in Peshawar and Abbottabad in collaboration with the private sector.

He said that President Pervez Musharraf had promised to give Rs1 billion for Sui gas supply to Peshawar, but the amount had not been released so far.

In reply to a question about the appointment of administrators for conducting the forthcoming local government elections, Mr Idrees said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government had never made such a request to the federal government.