PESHAWAR: Principal Officer American Consulate Lyn Tracy on Thursday said that her government had started US$750 million programme for the execution of uplift schemes in the NWFP, the Fata, the AJK, Balochistan and areas close to the Pak Afghan border.

She stated this during her meeting with District Nazim Himayatullah Khan Mayar at his office in Mardan on Thursday. Vice Consular Justin Kolbak and other officials of the US Consulate were present on the occasion.

She said a high-level delegation of the US, which was currently touring Pakistan, held meetings with officials of the Commerce Ministry in Islamabad and industrialists and traders in Peshawar the other day to devise a strategy for the development of industrial sector of the NWFP.

District Nazim Himayatullah Khan Mayar, DCO Syed Mubashir Hussain Shah, DPO Tahir Khan and ACO Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah briefed the US diplomats about the performance of the district government, LG system, law and order and the ongoing uplift projects in Mardan district.

Education and health sectors topped the priority list of the district government, he said adding the district government, in order to provide better facilities in these sectors, had introduced 16 new taxes with the approval of the district council and the provincial government.

The new taxation enhanced revenue generation of the district by Rs 30 million, he added. Mayar said that the LG system was delivering at the grassroots and added that the system was enjoying constitutional cover.