PESHAWAR: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has assured the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of complete technical and financial support for the mass transit, road, water, energy, irrigation and employment generation projects.

The assurance was given to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak by an ADB delegation during a meeting in Islamabad, said a handout issued here.

ADB country director Werner E Liepach led the delegation, while MNAs Dr Imran Khattak and Sheharyar Khan Afridi, adviser to chief minister on economic affairs Rafaqatullah Babar, additional chief secretary Khalid Pervez and the communication and works secretary assisted the chief minister.

The chief minister briefed the delegation about the projects underway in the province, including the mass transit scheme for Peshawar, over 200 water conservation and energy schemes particularly small hydropower projects, expressway from the motorway to Swat, and training of manpower on international standard.

He said on one hand, the province paid huge power bills of irrigation and drinking water tube wells and on the other, the people faced water shortage due to the excessive loadshedding.

“We have decided to convert all tube wells in the province to solar energy so that the problem of loadshedding is resolved once for all,” he said.

Mr Khattak there was a great rush on roads in almost all cities of the province, so there was a need for introducing mass transit systems in all district and divisional headquarters.

He also briefed the ADB delegation of the proposed expressway to Swat saying it will drastically improve the local residents’ life.

The chief minister said the growing unemployment in the province needed urgent and durable solution and therefore, he wanted to increase the opportunities of manpower development and training as well as installation of industries.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had accepted his request for letting the provincial government use gas to generate electricity so that cheap electricity could be provided to industrialists or investors in the province and thus addressing unemployment.The handout said details of many projects with reference to the required ADB assistance, including pre-feasibilities and feasibilities, came under discussion in the meeting.

It said the visitors appreciated the projects and assured the provincial government of cooperation for their successful execution.