
CM Gandapur reviews development proposals for DI Khan Division
A consultative meeting chaired by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur was held on Saturday to review development proposals for the Dera Ismail Khan Division as part of preparations for the upcoming Annual Development Programme (ADP).
The session, part of a series of ongoing meetings, focused on evaluating and prioritizing projects for inclusion in the new ADP. Attendees included members of the National and Provincial Assemblies from the DI Khan Division, as well as senior officials from divisional and district administrations.
Officials provided detailed briefings on the status and implementation of development projects initiated under the current fiscal year's ADP across the division's four districts.
Chief Minister Gandapur emphasized that completing ongoing development schemes would be the top priority in the forthcoming budget. He announced that a substantial portion of the development funds would be allocated to projects nearing completion to ensure timely public benefit.
"Projects with at least 80 percent completion will be finalized in the coming year," he stated. "Additionally, large-scale projects that address the broader needs of the population will be prioritized for inclusion in the new ADP."
He noted that the ADP's 13-year throw-forward has been reduced to seven years and is expected to be trimmed further in the next fiscal year. The Chief Minister highlighted that a record 550 development schemes were completed during the current yearthe highest in the province's historywith over 600 expected to be completed in the coming year.
He urged elected representatives to propose projects that would benefit large segments of the population. He also reiterated the government's commitment to the health and education sectors.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business Recorder
KP govt, cement industry agree to increase cement royalty
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and cement industry have agreed on increasing cement royalty per ton from Rs 250 to Rs 350. They have further agreed to implement a 10% increase in royalty for the first two years, followed by a 7.5% increase over the next three years. Both parties agreed during a meeting of the cement manufacturers with the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in Islamabad on Thursday. The meeting focused on issues facing the cement industry, their potential solutions, and the promotion of the cement sector in the province. Speaking on the occasion, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, has emphasised that the development of the industrial sector is essential for eliminating unemployment in the province. He said that the provincial government is extending all possible facilities and support to investors in this regard. The provincial government has established its own mining company with the purpose to ensure the efficient management and exploration of mineral resources,' he said. He added that efforts are also underway to introduce modern machinery, technologies, and methodologies in the mining sector to minimize wastage of precious mineral resources. This is an effective management of minerals, through which the provincial government is increasing its revenue—an essential step toward making the province financially strong and self-sustaining, he remarked. The chief minister assured the delegation of full government support for promoting cement industry in the province. He also invited the delegation to invest in the value addition of minerals such as gypsum, placer gold, and other mineral products within the province. He highlighted the significant potential for gypsum and other important minerals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which needs to be explored. The government, he said is actively taking steps to encourage value addition of mineral products within the province and will provide all possible incentives and support to investors in this sector. He invited the delegation to invest in the development of the provincial power transmission line. He stated that electricity generated from local power plants will be provided to industries at subsidized rates through the provincial transmission line—an initiative critical for industrial growth and unemployment reduction in the province. The delegates on the occasion, welcomed the Chief Minister's invitation to invest in mining and transmission line projects and expressed keen interest in further investment opportunities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025


Business Recorder
2 days ago
- Business Recorder
Dollar feeble on soft economic data, trade uncertainties
SINGAPORE: The dollar drifted in muted trading on Thursday after weak US economic data revived fears of slow growth and high inflation, while the euro was steady ahead of an expected interest rate cut from the European Central Bank. The soft data, which showed US services sector contracted for the first time in nearly a year in May and an easing labour market, led to a rally in Treasuries and increased the odds of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year. In Asian hours, currency market moves were tepid as investors were hesitant in making major bets, awaiting developments for fresh cues on the economy, tariffs and trade deals. Markets have been rattled since US President Donald Trump announced a slate of tariffs on countries around the globe on April 2, only to pause some and declare new ones, leading investors to look for alternatives to US assets. The greenback weakness has been the story of the year, with foreign exchange strategists surveyed by Reuters expecting further declines on mounting concerns about the US federal deficit and debt. On Thursday, the dollar was a shade higher against the yen at 143, while the euro stood at $1.1412, not far from the six-week high it touched at the start of the week. Sterling last fetched $1.3544. The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six others, was at 98.87 and has dropped about 9% this year, poised for its weakest yearly performance since 2017. Investors are now awaiting Friday's monthly payrolls figures to gauge the state of the labour market after payroll processing firm ADP reported that US private payrolls increased far less than expected in May. The more comprehensive employment report on Friday is expected to show that non-farm payrolls increased by 130,000 jobs in May after advancing by 177,000 in April, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The unemployment rate is forecast to hold steady at 4.2%. 'May's payrolls data tomorrow will be important to see if investor concerns are valid or overdone. A soft labour market report is likely to result in outsize falls in the US dollar,' said Mansoor Mohi-uddin, chief economist at Bank of Singapore. Trump redoubled his calls for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday to lower interest rates after the ADP data was released, the latest attack that has stoked worries about the independence of the US central bank and rattled investors. Dollar slips after data disappoints Markets have priced in 56 basis points of rate cuts this year from the Fed, with traders pricing in a 95% chance for easing in September, LSEG data showed. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note was at 4.363% in Asian hours, just above the four-week low of 4.349% it touched on Wednesday. In other currencies, the Australian dollar was steady at $0.6491, shrugging off Wednesday's weak GDP report while the New Zealand dollar was last at $0.603, just shy of a seven-month high.


Business Recorder
3 days ago
- Business Recorder
Wall Street ticks higher as tech boost offsets economic worries
U.S. stocks edged higher on Wednesday, as strength in technology shares offset declines driven by weak economic data that deepened concerns about the impact of the Trump administration's erratic trade policies. The U.S. services sector contracted for the first time in nearly a year in May, while businesses paid higher input prices, a reminder that the economy was still at risk of experiencing a period of very slow growth and high inflation. The ADP National Employment Report showed U.S. private employers added the fewest number of workers in more than two years in May. Investors are awaiting Friday's nonfarm-payrolls data for more signs on how trade uncertainty is affecting the U.S. labor market. 'I think you get very short term volatility from the ADP number, but I don't think that it means that much until we see the payrolls number,' said Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. Washington doubled tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50% on Wednesday, the same day by which President Donald Trump wanted trading partners to make their best offers to avoid other punishing import levies from taking effect in early July. Investor focus is squarely on tariff negotiations between Washington and its trading partners, with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping expected to speak sometime this week as tensions simmer between the world's two biggest economies. Wall Street mixed after Trump's steel tariff threat May was the best month for the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq since November 2023, thanks to a softening of Trump's harsh trade stance and upbeat earnings reports. The S&P 500 remains less than 3% away from its record highs touched in February. Barclays joined a slew of other brokerages in raising its year-end price target for the S&P 500, pointing to easing trade uncertainty and expectations of normalized earnings growth in 2026. At 10:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 88.09 points, or 0.20%, to 42,605.07, the S&P 500 gained 17.36 points, or 0.29%, to 5,987.73 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 58.41 points, or 0.31%, to 19,459.09. Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sub-sectors rose, led by communication services with a 1.2% rise, while information technology stocks gained 0.4%. Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise rose 1.1% as demand for the company's artificial-intelligence servers and hybrid cloud segment helped it beat estimates for second-quarter revenue and profit. GlobalFoundries rose 2.2% after the chip manufacturer announced plans to increase its investments to $16 billion. Tesla dropped 3.8%. The electric-vehicle maker's sales dropped for the fifth straight month in big European markets. Wells Fargo shares rose 1.2% after the U.S. Federal Reserve removed a $1.95 trillion asset cap imposed in 2018 following years of missteps. Shares of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike slumped 4.7% after it forecast quarterly revenue below estimates. Dollar Tree fell 10.2% after the discount store operator forecast second-quarter adjusted profit would be as much as 50% lower than a year ago due to tariff-driven volatility. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.02-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.41-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 63 new highs and 23 new lows.