CM Mahmood Khan demands Chashma Project inclusion in PSDP

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has asked the federal government to include Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC) Lift Project in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and pay to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa its Net Hydel Profit (NHP) arrears.

He made the demands as he met Federal Minister for Planning and Special Initiatives, Asad Umar at his office in Islamabad on Thursday, said an official handout. Both discussed the matter related to the mega developmental scheme of KP. The schemes discussed were part of the PSDP of the federal government. Uninterrupted provision of funds to the provincial government for accelerated development of the merged districts, payment of the arrears of net hydel power to the province and other matters of mutual interest came under discussion as well.

The chief minister termed the proposed CRBC Lift Project as of vital importance for the province to be self-sufficient in the agriculture products. He said the project should be included in the federal PSDP of next financial year. Mahmood Khan remarked that in the prevailing coronavirus situation, the food security was the top priority of both the federal and provincial governments. He hoped that the CRBC project, on completion, would contribute greatly to the enhanced agricultural produce of not only Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but Punjab as well. The federal minister assured that keeping in view the importance of the project, its feasibility would be included in the federal PSDP of the upcoming financial year. Mahmood Khan demanded that payments of the NHP arrears to the KP government should be ensured as per the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the KP government and the Water Resource Division of the federal government. Discussing the issue of funds for the accelerated development of the merged districts, the chief minister stressed that all the federating units should ensure the timely provision of three percent of their shares in the National Finance Commission Award for the development of the merged districts as already pledged by them.