PESHAWAR, Sept 21: Plans for establishing engineering and medical colleges in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have been shelved owing to non-availability of funds, sources said. The NWFP Governor’s Secretariat, Fata, last year planned to set up a cadet college in Mohmand Agency, an engineering college in Bajaur Agency and a medical college in Kurram Agency.
The sources said that the construction of cadet college in Mohmand Agency was still on the cards, while the other two projects had been scrapped. The cadet college project requires about Rs306 million, officials said.
However, an official in the office of political agent Mohmand Agency told Dawn that 600 kanal land was allocated for the construction of cadet college at Ghazi Baig in upper Mohmand. The Haleemzai tribe had provided the land for the project.
He said that the political administration had included the project in the annual development programme for Fata and projected to allocate about Rs20 million for land acquisition. But the proposal was dropped by the secretariat, he said.
The government had appointed a director for the project and it was planned that the scheme would be completed in three phases, which required about six years.
Additional Secretary Planning and Development (Fata) Dr Tashfeen, when approached, said the federal government handled development schemes in the tribal areas and allocated special funds for such mega projects.
He said that the governor’s secretariat did not allocate funds for the three projects in the current annual development programme for Fata and the secretariat received funds through the Ministry of State and Frontier Region.
Former governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah had announced to set up a cadet college and two professional institutions in the three tribal agencies.
Spread over an area of 27,220 square kilometres along the Afghan border with an approximate population of four million, the tribal areas have no professional educational institution and the government has reserved special quota for Fata students in various professional institutions across the country.
In mid-1970s, the late Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had announced to construct a medical college in Parachinar, the Kurram Agency’s headquarters, and a site was also selected for the proposed college.
Despite approval and allocation of funds for the project, the college was shifted to Abbottabad.
Information gathered by Dawn from different sources said that the tribesmen of the three agencies had agreed to provide land for the construction of these institutions.
An official said that tribes in the Kurram Agency had agreed to provide 200 kanal of land. Three different sites had been offered in the surroundings of Parachinar, but the secretariat dropped the medical college project.