'Rs 10 billion being spent on Fata uplift'

NWFP Governor Khalil-ur-Rehman said that the government was following a multi-pronged policy towards the socio-economic uplift of the people of Fata to bring a pleasant change in their life.
For this purpose, he said, apart from infrastructure development, education and health sectors were also the focal points in the government's strategies.
He was talking to a 41-member group of the participants of Air War Course of the Karachi-based PAF Air War College; comprising group captains and wing commanders, who called on him at Governor's House here on Saturday.
The governor said, almost Rs 10 billions were being spent through different packages in the area.
The education development, he remarked, is the crux of every solution required to resolve the problems and meet the challenges being faced by the people as well as the government in Fata.
He said, "we are sparing no efforts to come up to the expectations of the area people."
The delegation, led by Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Ateeb Siddiqui, also included delegates from Nigeria, Jordan, Iran, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Yaman and Turkey.
In response to a query, the governor said, Fata itself was blessed by nature with tremendous mineral resources with marbles and copper at the top and almost 40,000 million tonnes of merely copper are available. Concrete initiatives are underway to make the utilisation of this hidden natural wealth on scientific lines, he added.
He said, the government was encouraging not only the public-private partnership but direct private investment was also being promoted simultaneously.
He added that certain foreign concerns were also taking keen interest to invest especially in the mineral sector in the area.
Responding to another query, the governor said, headway has already been made to promote positive trade and business activities to get rid of the stigma of smuggling and drug trafficking in the area.
In fact, both the smuggling and drug trafficking are the international problems and our role and achievements in this connection are appreciable and encouraging, he added.
Meanwhile, during a briefing, the participants of the course were informed about the salient features of the prevailing socio-economic indicators in Fata.
Ten different packages, costing almost Rs 1. 30 billion are under implementation in the areas, which have recently been made accessible. In response to a point, they were further informed, that nation building departments had been decentralised right to the agency level and effective monitoring system for the development activities had also been ensured in the shape of agency councils and the Governor's inspection team.