PESH AWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has acknowledged that a lot more has to be done for the progress of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and economic prosperity of its people.

He said that the steps taken by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf -led coalition government for elimination of corruption, bringing about transparency in working of the state machinery and provision of justice and relief to the people, especially at the level of police and other departments, were in fact part of the immediate and short-term strategies that yielded encouraging results.

`Now the government will have to implement the me diumand long-term strategies as per the vision of PTI chief Imran Khan, for which my team will have to work and toil round the clock, he said.

The chief minister said this while addressing an hours-long review meeting about the Provincial Growth Strategy that was chaired by PTI chairman Imran Khan at KP House, Islamabad, says a handout issued hereon Sunday. Besides ministers, administrative secretaries and high-ups of various government departments the meeting was also attended by PTI leaders Asad Umar and Shafgat Mehmood.

The participants were briefed about the available resources, natural and mineral reservoirs and manpower besides the steps taken and proposed initiatives for speeding up development process.

Mr Khattak assured the meeting concrete measures and strategies would be adopted in KP that could guarantee maximum jobs for the educated youth and expand revenue generation means with the sole aim to ameliorate the lot of people.

He said that there was no dearth of resources in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but all and sundry had to work hard to properly exploit them for the welfare of masses.

Referring to the policy guidelines of his party chief about immediate focus on tourism, agriculture and energy generation for obtaining prompt relief as well as durable steps for exploiting mineral deposits, oil, gas, hydel and solar energy, the chief minister said that efforts on these sectors would be expedited in days to come.

He said that private sector had been effectively involved in tourism projects while agriculture and irrigation sectors were developed on urgent basis to get bumper crops. He said thata comprehensive mines and minerals policy of the province had been announced and pursued accordingly.

He said that steps were also being taken to equip the manpower with skills and technical education.

He, however, said that enhancing productivity and capacity of the province and its people was a big challenge for the cabinet members and bureaucracy and they were endeavouring to achieve the goals with dedication.

Mr Khattak said that considerable progress had also been made for cheap power generation and industrial growth.

He said that immediate steps would also be taken to declare one or more national parks in rich forest areas of Kohistan besides increasing afforestation and introducing strict laws to stop illicit forest harvesting.

The chief minister said that attention would be given to manufacturing, construction and other sectors of development and productivity besides setting up boards and teams to monitor set targets.

He regretted that besides other geopolitical factors, incidents of terror and natural disasters created hurdles in the way of durable progress in the past.

However, he reiterated the firm pledge of his government that all such odds would be braved with commitment to ensure speedy progress of the province.