Smeda to initiate small projects in 24 districts

Peshawar: The provincial office of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) is preparing districtwise economic development plan in the tribal agencies and Frontier Regions (FRs).

Under the plan, the authority identified 24 districts of the province as potential areas and would initiate small projects, while large-scale projects have been identified in the investment guide of the province.

Smeda's province chief Javed Iqbal Khattak, while addressing a news conference in connection with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Smeda here on Tuesday disclosed this.

Managers in the provincial office Sarmad Hussein and Ashfaq Afridi accompanied him. The final draft of the plan, he said, would be submitted to the provincial government to facilitate the business community in the districts. 'The economic development plan for 14 districts had been completed and work on the remaining districts was in progress, he added.

He said that the authority had identified 14 projects in the potential tourism sector for different areas of the province. However, the prevailing security situation was creating hurdles in materialising the projects and arrival of investment in this sector.

Regarding the initiatives of the Smeda in Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata), Khattak said that the economic side of the 10-years Fata sustainable development plan, comprising skill development, lending packages, revival of women skill development centres, field internship programmes were initiated.