Smart cities are envisioned as the PM approves an urban policy
Mahmood Khan, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adopted the province’s Urban Policy, 2030, and action plan on Wednesday. He claimed the initiative would promote the growth of smart cities and guarantee the “well-organized” use and administration of land to satisfy the needs of urban centers.
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Additionally, he gave his permission to the planned master plans for the city of Mardan, the towns of Wana in the tribal district of South Waziristan, and Miramshah and Mirali in the tribal region of North Waziristan.
“In all fields, streamlining civic infrastructure is urgently needed. According to an official release, he said at the second meeting of the Land Use and Building Control Council held here, “We cannot afford any delay or neglect to this effect.
The meeting’s chief minister declared that KP was the first province to create an urban policy.
He urged the efficient execution of master plans and gave officials three months to develop a “pragmatic implementation system.”
Master plans have been approved for Mardan city and the urban regions of Waziristan.
According to the official release, the Urban Policy and Planning Unit and Sub-National Governance Program produced the policy after more than a year of deliberation and input from both local and foreign specialists as well as the general public.
The policy’s aims would be reviewed every two years until 2030, at which point they would be developed for a “rolling basis” of three to five years. It was also stated that the policy was applicable to all urban area development agencies and those operating under the KP Tourism Act.
It states that the urban strategy would support the growth of smart cities while taking into account their social, environmental, and gender implications.
According to the statement, “City administrators will have the freedom to devise their own city administration plans in accordance with the demands and requirements of their individual locations.”
Key elements of the urban policy, according to the statement, include land use and floor area planning, affordable housing, economic and real estate development, municipal services and livability, traffic and mobility ease, tourism in urban areas and in the northern zone, institutional capacity building to implement policy effectively, and strategic city management planning.
According to officials, master plans for 16 other cities in the province would be available by March, but those for Mardan, Wana, Miramshah, and Mirali had already been finalized.
