PESHAWAR, Sept 15: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government and rural development ministry is at loggerheads with the province’s bureaucracy over the execution of Asfandyar city, it is learnt.
Asfandyar city, the largest mega housing scheme in the province, was the brainchild of Peshawar Development Authority, but, now, top bureaucrats have decided that the housing department will carry out work on it. Officials in PDA told Dawn on Saturday that the authority had begun paperwork on Asfandyar city two years ago and had selected site for it in the southeast of the provincial capital.
They said after many visits to the site, the relevant officials enforced Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act. They added that initial survey to know feasibility of the said site had already been done.
Officials said after several meetings with landowners and local public representatives, PDA had got a green light to build the mega housing scheme.
They, however, said chief secretary Ghulam Dastagir Akhtar recently issued directions to the planning and development department to engage consultants for the project.
Officials said the planning and development department had planned to execute the scheme through the housing department once consultancy was completed.
Chief secretary Ghulam Dastagir Akhtar couldn’t be contacted despite repeated attempts. However, planning and development secretary Mohammad Saleem Khan told Dawn that the provincial government had decided that Asfandyar city would be built by P&D department.He said the P&D department would float tenders for the project consultancy in newspapers, but didn’t share its schedule. When asked why the government had decided to give the project to the housing department, especially when initial work on it was done by PDA, he said, “Whether the housing department is not part of the government?” He said the government had allocated funds for the project tenders and consultancy.
When contacted, senior minister for local government and rural development department Bashir Ahmad Bilour said the chief secretary wanted to the scheme to be executed through the housing department.
“I have rejected the decision of the chief secretary. Only PDA will establish Asfandyar city,” he said.
According to the initial plan made by PDA, Asfandyar city will be built on a land spreading over 14,600 acres and will have around 80,000 plots of different sizes.
Officials said they were hopeful that the scheme would ease the growing population burden on the provincial capital.
“It will also develop the southern areas of Peshawar as link road will be constructed at the cost of Rs10 billion to Asfandyar city with Kohat Road near Zangali area,” an official said.
Officials said PDA had planned that the project would be completed in two phases. They said in the first phase, the city would be developed on 8,000 acres at the cost of Rs78 billion in five years, while in the second five-year phase, it would be extended to 6,000 acres at the cost of Rs62 billion.
Officials said the establishment of the scheme would reduce high prices of residential plots in Peshawar besides discouraging illegal housing societies.