ISLAMABAD: The development of Mankial union council of Swat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as an Integrated Tourist Zone (ITZ) will help bring about sustainable socioeconomic change in the lives of local communities and boost the country’s tourism sector.
Mankial comprises 2,734 households with a population of 22,577 people. Establishing a modern ITZ there will increase the number of local and foreign tourists, helping generate revenues, including hefty foreign exchange.
An official of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture and Tourism Authority (KPCTA) told WealthPK on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak on the matter that ITZ Mankial consisted of 30 acres of land with an estimated gross floor area of about 20% to 30%. He said the ITZ would be developed under the public-private partnership mechanism and the investors/developers would be given certain tax exemptions.
The KPCTA official said that the ITZ Mankial was also exempted from certain law jurisdictions, including KP Urban Immovable Property Tax Act, 1958; KP River Protection and Forest Ordinance, 2002; Local Government Act, 2013; KP Food Safety Authority and Environmental Protection Act, 2014; KP Wildlife and Biodiversity Act, 2015; and KP Mineral Sector Governance Act, 2017.
Speaking about forest conservation in ITZ Mankial, Divisional Forest Officer, Forestry Planning and Monitoring Circle, Peshawar, Aitezaz Mahfooz told WealthPK that Mankial ITZ was going to be a mega infrastructure development project and would impact the local economic cycle positively. He said the special feature of the plan was the development of a tourist area that was full of the natural ecosystem. “It is not yet defined as to which type of eco-conservation model will be followed to keep the area’s natural wilderness intact,” he said, adding ecosystem conservation, especially in a tourist area, was a sensitive subject because temperature and ecosystem in a natural environment were different from that of a diverted area. “But things can be managed through the expert opinion of environment specialists, forestry experts and tourism connoisseurs.”
Talking to WealthPK, Managing Director of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Aftabur Rahman Rana, said the development of Mankial ITZ would prove a milestone in the sustainable socio-economic uplift of the local communities. He said the KP government was working to develop new tourism sites in the province. –INP
