Government to announce integrated development plan for GB soon: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar Wednesday said that federal government and the Gilgit Baltistan administration would jointly formulate and announce an integrated development plan for the people of GB soon.

He was jointly chairing an inaugural meeting for preparation of an integrated plan for development of Gilgit Baltistan here along with Chief Minister GB Khalid Khurshid.

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jehanzeb Khan, Secretary Planning Mathar Niaz Rana, Chief Secretary GB and other senior officials attended the meeting.

Secretary Planning presented the broad contours of Gilgit Baltistan Development Plan and potential prioritized projects to be included in the plan by adopting an integrated regional development approach.

He said that the priority areas of interventions being considered fall in all sectors including: clean energy, infrastructure, tourism and allied facilities, hospitals management, gems & minerals, small industry, private sector development, commerce and border markets, e-commerce, dry ports, health, nursing, social welfare, poverty alleviation, women & youth development, education, Agriculture, live stock fisheries, IT and telecommunications.

The meeting decided to constitute technical working groups comprising of relevant chiefs of M/o PD&SI and officers of GB. Apex Committee under Chief Minister GB and Inter-Ministerial Committee under Deputy Chairman Planning Commission will monitor the preparation and implementation of the development plan.

Welcoming the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister, Asad Umar said that the development needs of Gilgit-Baltistan had been neglected for a long time.

Chief Minister GB said that initiative taken by the Minster for Planning Development and Special Initiatives was the first of its kind for GB and it would greatly benefit the people of area.

He said that all the potential sectors should be included in this development package and it should be ensured that all projects start on time and are completed on time.

The Planning Secretary stated that Ministry of Planning had already finalized Karachi Transformation Plan and integrated development plan for Southern Baluchistan under the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The GB development plan will be a continuation of the same process.