PESHAWAR, March 6: NWFP Assembly Speaker Bakht Jihan Khan has directed the Frontier Highway Authority (FHA) and the administration of the Malakand Rural Development Project (MRDP) to construct and repair roads in Buner district on priority basis.

Talking to the officials of the Frontier Highway Authority and the MRDP here on Thursday, he expressed concern over the pathetic condition of roads in Buner district and directed them to construct major routes during current financial year, says a press release.

He said Buner district had been ignored in the past and people of the area had no basic facilities, such as of health, education, communication and potable water, and urged the concerned department to allocate funds for uplift schemes.

Local people, Mr Khan pointed out, gave up poppy cultivation on the condition that the government would launch development schemes in the district, but unfortunately such commitments had yet to materialise.—Bureau