Prime Minister Imran Khan, while addressing tribal elders at the Spinkai Raghzai area of South Waziristan on Wednesday, announced that Rs100 billion will be spent annually on the development of the tribal areas.

The premier said that the amount that the government was going to spend annually had not been spent on the region in the past 70 years.

He said that the people of the tribal areas would be provided with all those things they had not been provided thus far, and as a result of which they had been left behind.

He noted that the region was the poorest in the country, with the lowest education and highest unemployment, and that people would migrate from the area to earn money in places such as Karachi, Saudi Arabia and Dubai.

Prime Minister Imran told his audience that he believes that the people of tribal areas had been left behind because "no one understood them nor did they try to understand them".

The premier said that he believed that the country could not progress till all areas of the country were given a level playing field.

He added that when he spoke about a 'naya Pakistan' (new Pakistan), he envisioned a Pakistan which should have been created in 1947 as per the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal.

The premier had begun his address by noting that he understood the culture and traditions of the people living in the tribal areas.

"I understand all your problems," the premier said, adding that the purpose of his visit was to solve the problems faced by people in the region.

Imran said that he also understood the problems that they would face after the tribal areas were merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that he was a leader who knows more about the region than other leaders in the past. "I will do for you that which no one has done before, nor will be able to in the future," the premier promised.

The premier announced that tribal area residents would be given the Sehat Insaf Card. Additionally, he said, the people of the area will also be given special funds for the damage caused to their houses in the fight against militancy. A special quota of loans for entrepreneurship will be given to the youth so that they can setup their own shops.

The premier also shared that they had decided to pave 100 kilometres of new roads in Waziristan.

Two degree colleges, one for boys and one for girls, will also be established in Wana. He added that a sports complex would also be set up.

He also announced that grid stations would be upgraded and solar power will be introduced in some parts of the tribal areas.

PM Imran called on the people of the region to trust him and said it was his belief that a naya Pakistan could not be formed if there was so much discrepancy between different parts of the country in terms of development.

The premier, however, also asked his supporters for patience, saying it would take time to tackle the high debts accumulated by Pakistan in the past.

He promised towards the end of his speech that the region would start seeing a change soon as funds slowly start trickling in during Ramazan.