With the implementation of the project, tourism industry is expected to grow manifold which would create job opportunities and improve life standard of the local people. This three-year project has been completed well before the stipulated time.
This transpired during discussions held between several AJK senior government officials and a group of journalists.
Apart from infrastructure development, the FERRP will increase economic opportunities for women by reviving and strengthening the business of nurseries while women can also work as forest wardens, thus creating space for women to voice their problems and participate in decision-making.
The government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will establish three tourism corridors across the state for attracting local as well as foreign tourists to promote and develop the local tourism industry. This initiative of the government would help create employment opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled youth, reduce poverty and enhance income of rural people by opening up monumental tourism in Banjosa, Toleepir, Lasdana and Hajipir areas.
In order to promote tourism, the government of AJK with the financial and technical assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB) has developed and improved different roads to enhance access of the tourists to various tourist destinations, said acting Chief Secretary AJK, Dr Syed Asif Hussain.
Talking to a group of journalists who visited different road projects that were initiated through financial assistance and technical support of ADB, he said that after 2014 flash floods, the AJK government and ADB entered into an agreement for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the road infrastructure to enhance road accessibility for common man and promotion of tourism. He said that ADB had provided $ 220.04 million under three-year Flood Emergency Reconstruction and Resilience Project (FERRP) for the construction of 10 major and 15 districts' roads, adding that the government's share in the project was $ 24.23 million.