Govt to establish Peshawar ‘walled city authority’,says minister

PESHAWAR: Senior Minister for Tourism, Culture, Archaeology, and Museums Muhammad Atif Khan on Wednesday said that the government was mulling to establish a Walled City Authority to preserve the archeological buildings.

Speaking at the Institute of Architects Conference, he said that there were centuries old buildings in the city and preserving the same were imperative. Turkish architectures also participated in the conference, Atif Khan said, adding, the archeological buildings were an asset to the country and can be used and helped promote tourism in the province.

He said the government and Tourism Corporation had started efforts on war-footing basis to use the province full potential to generate revenue for the province and the country.

The minister said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a vast potential for tourism but successive governments ignored this sector and did too little for its promotion. "Tourism sector is of high value but successive governments did not use the province and country's full potential in this sector," he elaborated. The minister said that he had accepted Tourism as a challenge to turn this sector into a major revenue generating entity. "The day is not far when tourism would be a major contributor to the government exchequer," he hoped.