Staff Reporter
Peshawar
The Khyber Pakthunkhwa Sports, Culture, Tourism Archaeology and Youth Affairs Department under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Project (KITE) awarded three contracts for conservation, preservation and development of nine archaeological sites in the province.
These sites include Bhamala World Heritage Site Khanpur, Shapola Stupa-Khyber District, Jamrud Fort-Khyber District, three Historical Mosques in Swat i.e. Pishmal Mosque, Main Kalam Mosque and Udegram Mosque, Hund Museum Swabi, Chakdara Museums, Dir Lower and Mardan Museum.
The spokesperson of Sports and Tourism Department told APP on Friday that one of main objective of KITE is to promote and develop culture and religious tourism by exploring archaeological treasures.
The initiative to preserve the archeological sites and to make these sites hub for cultural and religious tourism was undertaken. The sites included in the scheme are highly important, globally known with one of them is already enlisted on prestigious World Heritage List of UNESCO.
The activities under these contracts will include conservation work- structural remains shall be preserved, expansion and face lifting of existing buildings, display of objects, illumination, provision of tourist/ visitors’ facilities i.e. information center, tuck and souvenir shops, cafeteria, paths, toilets, audio and video solutions, parking, benches and dust bins.
The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (GoKP) is undertaking several initiatives to employ the tourism sector as a key driver of economic growth and job creation in the province.
To create an enabling environment for the private sector to participate and develop the tourism value chain, GoKP has entered into a partnership with the World Bank through an International Development Association (IDA) loan for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Development (KITE) Project.
KITE is a $70 million IDA (World Bank) project which aims to create tourism-enabling infrastructure, enhance tourism assets and strengthen destination management for sustainable tourism development in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
KITE is also working on other initiatives of institutional strengthening of Directorate of Archeology Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One such initiative is installation of 540 archaeological sign boards in 10 districts in the province.
So far 69 directional sign boards have been installed in Mardan while installation of 62 informational signboards at archaeological sites in Takht Bai, Jamal Garhi and Shabaz Garhi is in process. Taking the good work forward 130 sign boards will be installed in district Swat, the spokesperson concluded.
