PESHAWAR: The Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) has approved nine development projects with an estimated cost of Rs52.6 billion.

The approval for the projects was given in a meeting of PDWP held under the chairmanship of additional chief secretary Khalid Pervez, here on Thursday. The meeting was attended by the administrative secretaries and senior staff of P&D, finance, environment, C&W, LG&RD, agriculture, energy and power, elementary and secondary education, and food and irrigation departments.

According to a handout, the approved projects include construction of Lawi hydropower project (69MW) in Chitral at a cost of Rs26 billion; construction of Matiltan Gorkin hydropower project Swat (84MW) at a cost of Rs22 billion; electrification of 100 villages through solar/alternative energy at a cost of Rs216 million; establishment of 100 government primary schools on need basis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (phase-III) at a cost of Rs1.7 billion; purchase of land for construction of food grain warehouse in Abbottabad at a cost of Rs75 million; DFID assisted bridges of Malakand division; construction of approaches and launching of steel bridges to be provided by DFID under flood damages restoration project in Swat district, Chitral, Lower Dir and Upper Dir phase-II at a cost of Rs960 million, emergency rural roads rehabilitation project (JICA assisted); rehabilitation and improvement of eight roads in Haripur district at a cost of Rs211 million and emergency rural roads rehabilitation project (JICA-assisted).