CHITRAL, March 13: Provincial Minister for Population Welfare Salim Khan has said despite the feeble financial position of the provincial government due to the spate of militancy and the devastating floods, a large sum of money has been earmarked for Chitral during the current fiscal year. Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, he enumerated the development projects to be launched in the area and said that a water supply scheme to Chitral town and its surrounding villages at a huge cost of Rs430 million would be launched.

He said the Rs150 million had also been allocated for the restoration of road infrastructure damaged by the torrential floods last year while the valley roads will get additional funds for their rehabilitation.

Mr Khan claimed that it was due to his relentless efforts that the federal government ordered to write off the agricultural and business loans of Chitral which benefited thousands of poor peasants and the people associated with micro-finance.

He went on to claim that special initiatives were afoot to solve the shortage of electricity problem once and for all by exploiting the tremendous water potential in the area.

He said the waters of Chitral had the potential to provide thousands of mega watts of electricity to the national grid and the present government was all set to make it a reality.

The minister also claimed that the health sector had been specially focused, adding, the DHQ hospital had recently been upgraded and provided with resources.

The minister said that the provincial government had provided employment to more than 1,500 persons in different government departments. Regarding work on Lowari tunnel project, the minister reiterated that work will be restarted on the project shortly.

“After the proper designing of the road tunnel, work will be restarted and that this is absolutely incorrect that the project has been rolled back,” the minister said, adding, no compromise will be made on the project due to its vitality and importance for the area.