PESHAWAR: A number of roads, irrigation channels and water supply schemes have been completed under a US-funded project.

The US Mission in Pakistan in collaboration with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s planning and development department completed the multi-sectoral ‘Area Development Projects’ worth $6.4 million, benefiting over 44,000 families from Bajaur, Khyber, Mohmand and Torghar districts, according to a statement.

With US financial assistance, the KP government built 29 kilometres of roads, 59 irrigation channels, and 55 drinking water supply schemes from 2019 to 2022, the statement said.

The Area Development Projects also provided farmers with seeds and agriculture trainings, allowing for cultivation of more than 5,000 acres of land with high-value crops and providing alternative livelihoods to illicit poppy seed production.

US Embassy’s Director of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Lori Antolinez and Director General SDU/Planning and Development Department Suhail Khan attended a ceremony marking the conclusion of the project.

Speaking on the occasion, Suhail Khan said the projects were impacting people’s lives in real ways – by building roads that enabled economic and educational opportunities, providing stable access to drinking water, bolstering family incomes, and improving the local economy.

INL Director Lori Antolinez recognised the longstanding partnership between the US and KP governments to curb illegal crop production in the province. “This $6.4 million investment, in partnership with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, will promote prosperity, stability and economic opportunity in Mohmand, Bajaur, Khyber and Torghar districts,” Antolinez said.

Over the past four decades, the US government, through INL, has invested more than $1 billion to improve citizens’ security and enhance law enforcement capacity across Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2022