Finance Minister Taimur Salim Jhagra in his budget speech in the provincial assembly here on Tuesday said rural and urban development was priority of the government for which substantial budget has been allotted in budget 2019-20.

He said that special development budget for Peshawar City include provision of Rs.2 billion for starting second shift of Water Sanitation Services Peshawar ( WSSP),  Sunday operations  and its extension to sub-urban areas.

He said that Rs 4.5b allocated for development of Peshawar mainly improvement and construction of Ring road, New Bus Stand, Peshawar uplift Programs and Regi Model Town.

Finance Minsiter said that Rs 1.1b for least developed districts uplift programme (Kolai Palas, Battagram, Tank, Kohistan Upper, Shangla, Buner, Chitral (Upper & Lower) and Hangu.

He said that Rs 300m for uplift and beautification of district HQs namely Hangu, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Swabi, Charssada, Malakand, Haripur and Mansehra.

Similarly,  Rs 400m for special development package for Torghar, Rs 500m for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Digital Transformation Centers,  Rs 6.3b in terms of Tobacco Development Cess, NHP and Oil and Gas Royalty to specific districts for uplift, along with backlog payments.

He said  Rs 600m for Southern Area Development Project, Rs 3.4b for KP Districts Governance and Community Development Program in collaboration with EU.

Taimur Khan said  Rs 1500m for Municipal Services Delivery Project in collaboration with USAID. Likewise, Rs 145m for Establishment of Public Parks.