PESHAWAR, July 24: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has directed to work out a foolproof mechanism for payment to the owners under the land acquisition for different projects approved by the provincial government. The new mechanism should be transparent, fulfilling all the legal formalities, he added.
He was presiding over two different meetings for the payment to the land owners whose land were being acquired for different projects of public welfare oriented nature. The second meeting related to the commercialization process of public property including the high rise buildings on the recently vacated land of government bungalows at Nishtarabad and government residential accommodation and flats at Civil Quarters Peshawar.
The meeting attended by MNA Dr. Azhar Jadoon, Provincial Minister Qalandar Lodhi, Chief Secretary Abid Saeed, SMBR, Commissioner Peshawar and administrative secretaries had a detailed discussions and made a number of decisions for land acquisition under the law and acceleration of work on the commercialization drive of the public property. The participants were briefed about different hurdles in the land acquisition process through a presentation. The presentation also focused on the determination of value of the land and the problems existed in the land acquisition process. The participants also took for debate the existing system of land acquisition and the consequential problems emanated from the existing land acquisition procedure.
Chief Minister addressing the participants directed to have a transparent mechanism covered by all legal formalities for the land acquisition for different projects of public welfare oriented nature throughout the province. The mechanism to be evolved should be for the whole of the province, he added. He said that there should be no injustice to the land owners whose land would be acquired for different projects in the province. He said he had already directed for a standard procedure for the acquisition of land throughout the province in order to compensate all the affectees of different mega and small projects in the province.
Pervez Khattak directed to firm up viable recommendations for the realistic valuation of the land to be acquired for different projects in the province. His government cannot afford the wastage of time that ultimately lead to delay the projects and raise the cost of the projects and in the process the land owners also suffered. The transparent mechanism, he said should ensure the smooth acquisition of land for the public projects and at the same time realistic payment to the land owners so that they should not feel any injustice in the whole process. – PR
