PESHAWAR, July 26: City Development and Municipal Department (CDMD) Director-General Malik Saad has vowed that all the areas falling under the department will be cleared off from encroachments.

He, speaking at the Peshawar Press Club’s Guest Hour programme here on Friday, said the CDMD was focusing on uplift-oriented projects in the city.

At present, he was supervising the anti-encroachment drive on G.T. Road, Warsak Road, and Karkhano Road, and the development of the Regi Lalma Town project, he added.

He denied that the archaeological site at the Gor Gathri top in the old city area was being demolished. “We are working on the protection and conservation of the site. We have planned to give a better look to the site by developing a park and renovating the mosque inside Gor Gathri”, he stated.

Mr Saad said the Soori Bridge point had been a main source of the traffic jams during rush hours as it was the only point where all diverging routs overlapped. “We are trying to expand the bridge and the Jail Road leading towards Saddar”, he added.

Mr Saad highlighted some other plans in the pipeline including linking of Ring Road with Frontier Road to facilitate the vehicular traffic originating from Hayatabad, canal-link roads and re-structuring of traffic flow.

He said the department was ready to allot alternate lands to the affected railway’s employees in Katcha Garhi, but it was their departments duty to give them ownership rights. According to the revenue record, they were demanding more than their share, he added.

About a saint’s mazar falling under the encroachment on G.T. Road, he said the tomb would be removed to another place.