MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will set up 100 community centres in Mansehra district, said local MPA Laiq Mohammad Khan on Sunday. “Community centres will help preserve this integral feature of tribal life,” Laiq Khan told reporters in Oghi tehsil here. The lawmaker, the chairman of the district development advisory committee, said tendering for Rs2 billion development projects, including construction of 100 community centres and the solarisation of 74 mosques, had already been completed. He said the Haleema-Nawagia Road, built at a cost of Rs80 million, had already been inaugurated. “We are also set to inaugurate road projects to connect our district with the Hazara Expressway and Karakoram Highway with the objective of bringing about revolutionary changes to people’s lives,” he said. Local MPA says tendering completed for Rs2 billion uplift projects Mr Khan said hujra was an integral part of the tribal society as it provided a communal space to residents. He said the region, once a tribal belt of Mansehra district, was declared a settled district in 2011 and since then, serious efforts had been in progress to develop roads, health centres, and educational centres. The MPA said the provincial government, at his request, approved a central bridge over the Indus River to connect the district with Peshawar via Buner to significantly reduce travel time. Local elder Naseer Khan said the district development advisory committee had also approved development projects to resolve educational challenges facing schoolchildren, especially girls. He urged the government to ensure speedy completion of work on development projects to the relief of residents. The maternal, newborn and child health programme, in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, on Sunday provided surgical equipment to qualified midwives to establish childbirth centres in remote parts of Mansehra and Torghar districts. “We are implementing a comprehensive strategy to set up childbirth stations in remote parts of Hazara Division to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates,” district health officer Dr Shah Faisal Khanzada told a ceremony at the Community Midwifery School here. He said surgical equipment was given away to 14 qualified midwives for childbirth stations in both districts. The DHO said those midwives, who attended modern training programmes on modern obstetrics pre- and post-natal care, would establish childbirth stations in remote areas of both districts. He said the MNCH programme, in collaboration with JICA, had been operating in remote parts of the province, including Mansehra, Battagram, and Torghar districts, where 24 childbirth stations had already been established. Dr Tariq Shah, a representative of the international programme, highlighted that Provincial Coordinator for MNCH in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Khizra Hayat has been focusing on addressing maternal and infant health issues, particularly in rural areas. Divisional social organiser for MNCH Hameed Turabi said the programme, in collaboration with JICA, had been striving to prevent and control maternal and infant deaths caused by obstetric complications and other factors.