PESHAWAR, March 5: The ground-breaking ceremony of the Regi Lalma township scheme is scheduled to be performed on Thursday.  

The National Logistic Cell (NLC) has already shifted to the city its machinery, required for the project that is estimated to cost Rs7 billion.

NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, during a briefing here on Monday, gave the go-ahead signal to the district government to start work on the project, especially the construction of infrastructure.

The Regi Lalma Model Town, which is one of the biggest townships of its kind in the country, will be built on the site of the sprawling Nasir Bagh refugee camp near the city.

The governor said the people, who had made payments for the allotment of plots, must have respite from the mental stress they had been suffering due to the inordinate delay in the inauguration of the project.

“I am only interested to develop this historic city and protect the rights of the people.”

The governor directed the agencies concerned to complete the micro planning schemes at the earliest, saying that there must be a rationale between the ratio of population and the facilities to be provided to them.

In micro planning, he said, the houses for the low-income group should be available in each sector and sub-sector.

The briefing was attended by the provincial minister for local government, Attar  Minallah; Chief Secretary Shakil Durrani, Administration Secretary Col (retd) Ghulam Hussain, Local Government Secretary Iftikhar Ali Shah, city district Naib Nazim Iqbal Khalil and the director-general of city and Municipal Development Department (CMDD), Malik Saad, Khyber Agency political agent Fida Mohammad Wazir, representatives of the NLC and other executing agencies, according to an official statement, issued here on Tuesday.

Out of the total area of 4,616 acres, 41 per cent land has been reserved for residential houses, while commercial and public service facilities would cover three and seven per cent, respectively.

Recreational and open areas would spread over 14 per cent of the total land and road and transport-related facilities would cover 30 per cent of the land.

According to the plot distribution plan, 42.4 per cent plots would be allotted to the low-income group, while the middle-income and high-income groups would be given 35.3 per cent and 22.3 per cent of the plots, respectively.

The project would have a golf course, parks, an indoor sport centres, sport complexes, besides civic centres, recreational centres and a zoological garden.

In all, the project would have 89 hospitals/BHUs, 63 primary schools, 60 neighbourhood commercial centres, 35 mosques, 33 secondary schools and colleges, 24 police posts and one fire brigade.