PESHAWAR: Peshawar Model Town, the biggest housing scheme in the provincial capital with 82,000 residential plots of different size, would be launched soon.

A meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was told that the town would be established on 106,000 acres of land with 17 residential zones, according to a statement issued here on Sunday.

The meeting was convened to review progress on Peshawar Revival Plan and various other projects of the provincial capital. The chief minister directed the authorities concern to complete all arrangements for the ground breaking of Peshawar Model Town by March next year.

Consultancy for the master planning and detailed engineering design of the project is in progress. The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to prepare master plan of the project keeping in view future requirements, allocate sufficient space for government offices in the town and link it with Motorway M-1 and Bus Rapid Transit corridor directly.

CM orders officials to devise master plan of scheme according to future needs

He also directed the quarters concerned to start work on the proposed project of new bus terminal in Peshawar.

He asked them to ensure progress on all the projects under Peshawar Revival Plan as per the given timelines and start work on implementation of Cities Improvement Project by June next year.

Besides provincial ministers Akbar Ayub and Taimur Saleem Jhagra, the meeting was attended by administrative secretaries of relevant departments, Peshawar commissioner, deputy commissioner and other relevant officials.

The meeting was informed that the proposed bus terminal would be established on 300 acres of land outside the city having state-of-the-art facilities including car park, shops, cafeteria, waiting rooms, washrooms, workshops, service station, petrol pump, mosque etc.

After its completion, all types of bus stands operating inside the city will be shifted to the new terminal to address the ever increasing traffic issues in the city. The bus terminal will be directly linked to BRT corridor to facilitate the passengers.

Mahmood Khan also directed the relevant authorities to submit an action plan along with proper timeline to implement the traffic management plan of Peshawar within one week and ensure completion of the remaining portion of Ring Road from Warsak Road to Nasir Bagh by August next year.

About various steps taken so far under Peshawar Revival Plan, the meeting was informed that more than 1,100 shop boards in different areas of the city were standardised, 745 illegal structures were demolished, 1,500 temporary cabins and signboards were removed and 464-kanal of illegally occupied government land was evacuated.

During the campaign against polythene shopping bags in various area of the city, so far 3,700 kilograms of polythene bags were confiscated and destroyed. The meeting informed that Hayatabad and University Town were made free of polythene bags.

The meeting was told that work on rehabilitation and restoration of the historic Wazir Bagh and Shahi Bagh would be completed by February next year.

The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to focus more attention on the beautification scheme of the city and give specific attention to the entry points of the city.

He stressed the need for taking effective measures to solve the issues of environmental pollution due to marble factories on Warsak Road.

He directed the officials concerned to work on a plan to shift those factories to another suitable place out of the city so that the issue could be resolved on permanent basis.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2020