KOHAT, March 29: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Saturday praised the role of non-governmental organizations and said people did not trust government projects because of corruption and lack of interest among the officials.

Speaking at the ground-breaking of the Al Shifa Eye Trust Hospital at Kohat Township, he said there was no dearth of philanthropists and social organizations but they did not help the government projects.

He appealed to the people to donate for the project and said it was being constructed by the Frontier Works Organization under the supervision of the management of the hospital. He said Kohat was a central district of the province and the hospital would benefit a large population and decrease burden on the hospitals in Peshawar.

He said the government had donated Rs5 million for the hospital and provided eight acres free of cost.

The chairman of the board of trustees of the hospital, Jehandad Khan, said Rs101.164 million would be spent on the project which would have eight operation theatres and an emergency unit. The project would be completed by March 2005 but efforts would be made to start the emergency unit as soon as the building was completed, he said.

He said the project would offer its facilities to the bordering provinces of Afghanistan, where camps were being held on quarterly basis to cure eye diseases. District Nazim Malik Asad also spoke.