PDA renames ‘Gandhara Valley City’ as ‘New Peshawar City project’

PESHAWAR: Board of Directors (BoD) of the Peshawar Development Authoirty (PDA) has renamed the Gandhara Valley City as New Peshawar City and approved the establishment of a dedicated Project Management Unit (PMU) to implement the proposed project on fast-track basis.

It also approved setting up of a Service Delivery Unit with the aim to enhance the capacity and improve service delivery of PDA.

The approval was accorded in the 7th board meeting of Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) held here the other day with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the chair, said an official handout issued here on Wednesday.

Provincial cabinet members Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Bangash, MPA Pir Fida Muhammad, Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, administrative secretaries of concerned departments, Commissioner Peshawar, DG PDA and other board members attended the meeting.

The chief minister directed the Peshawar Development Authority to immediately advertise the key positions for the establishment of the PMU and set timelines to complete hiring process in minimum possible time.

These key positions include one post of Project Manager, four positions of Deputy Project Managers, seven posts of Assistant Project Managers and two positions of Land Revenue Experts.

He further directed the quarters concerned that professionals and experts of the relevant field be hired from market for the PMU and ensure strict adherence to the relevant rules and regulations in vogue.

The meeting was told that the proposed “Gandhara Valley City” covering 108000 Kanal of land would have residential and commercial portions in addition to media enclave and provincial secretariat etc adding that state of the art civic facilities would be available in the city.

It was informed that land acquisition process for the project has been started under the land sharing formula and consultant has been hired for the master planning of the project, and master plan of the project would be completed by April next year.

The Chief Minister assigned Commissioner Peshawar to lead and overseas all the matters related to the fast track implementation of the project. Similarly, the forum approved allotment of additional 55 Kanal land in Hayatabad for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy and 40 kanal of land in Regi Model Town for Forensic Science Laboratory on the notified rates of PDA.

The board has decided to constitute a committee to be headed by Secretary Local Government to devise a uniform policy for installation of Base Transceiver System Towers of cellular companies in the jurisdiction of Peshawar Development Authority.

The board also approved in principle the draft of PDA Private Housing Schemes (Management & Regulations) Rules, 2021 which would be presented before the provincial cabinet for final approval. The board accorded conditional approval to the Budget estimates of PDA for fiscal year 2021-22.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021