PESHAWAR, Feb 14: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister has taken notice of the suspension of renovation and rehabilitation of Mughal-era Shahi Bagh and directed the additional chief secretary to send a letter to the USAID conveying the willingness of the provincial government for the said scheme in line with the orders of the Peshawar High Court.

The USAID authorities had stopped worked on the project a few days ago due to internal wrangling between the local government department and Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) as the latter wanted to construct an international football stadium in Shahi Bagh with the support of Fifa.

The donor agency had made it clear to the government that they should be given the guarantee that there would be no further interruption in the project. On Feb 3, the USAID-run Fata Secretariat Programme (FSP), which has been executing the project, had sent a letter to its contractor, Abdur Rehman and Company, directing it to cease work on this park project with immediate effect It is learnt that a deputy secretary at the Chief Minister Secretariat sent a letter on Feb 10 to the additional chief secretary, planning and development department. In the said letter it is stated that the USAID funded the instant project at the request of local government department and under the authority of the Peshawar Development Authority.

It is added that master plan was prepared and development work was progressing when a dispute between local government department and PFF halted the activities.

In the meantime, a writ petition was filed in the Peshawar High Court against construction activities in the park. The then PHC chief justice and another member of a bench visited the park and issued a restraining order against all activities.

The said letter also states that the US consul general at Peshawar has approached the chief minister seeking assurance of the provincial government to abide by the court orders and support completion of the project in accordance with the original specifications.

The project spread over an area of 114 kanals and to be completed with a cost of around Rs70 million includes construction of fountains, pond and reviving a baradari.