ABBOTTABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports and Tourism Minister Syed Aqil Shah launched work on  project at Harno here on Sunday.

The project would be completed on public-private partnership to provide recreational facilities to people.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Mr Shah said that the government was taking steps to revive tourism and sports activities in the province. He said that work had been started on three major tourism projects in Hazara, including water sports (Khanpur-Haripur), eco-tourism (Naran-Kaghan) and the amusement city project at Harno in Abbottabad. He said that Rs3 billion estimated cost of these projects would be managed by Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Shah said that 20 per cent income earned through each of the project would be spent on the development of the respective area, while priority would be given to residents in different jobs.

Earlier, project director Kaleemuddin said that the proposed project would offer several facilities to tourists, including heritage park, wildlife zoo, amusement park, parrot house, pigeon house, snake home, food huts, heritage train, water sports, boating, mini golf course, hotel, guest house, water birds zoo, skiing ramps, jogging tracks, rock climbing, adventure club and paragliding. The five-phase project would be completed in eight years. Majority of tourists coming to Abbottabad and other hilly areas of Galyat often stay at Harno.—Correspondent