Heritage Trail Project: Affected shopkeepers in Peshawar await compensation

PESHAWAR: Shop owners whose incomes have dwindled due to restoration of old buildings in the city have demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government pay them the compensation soon as they

Business at over 400 shops situated in Meena Bazaar and Bazaar-e-Kalan — in the area between Gor Gathri and Ghanta Ghar — has been affected ever since roads were dug up for the Heritage Trail Project in Peshawar.

Although the promised compensation amount is not a hefty sum, the shop owners said, they would at least be able to pay a month’s rent.

They have installed banners in protest in the area and have been left stressing over how they would run their households under such circumstances.

Even residents of the area have complained over the dug-up roads as there is barely any space for them to walk.

The locals have therefore threatened the provincial government of taking to the streets in protest if the project is not completed in time i.e. by March, as promised by the authorities concerned.

Heritage Trail Project was formally inaugurated in December 2017.

“The Heritage Trail Project will be completed at a cost of Rs301.5 million to renovate and refurbish facade or outer appearances of 75 heritage buildings and structures out of 150 with a cultural and historical touch along 450 metres distance in this historic city of Peshawar,” KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had said, at the inaugural ceremoney.

He had said the shopkeepers and traders affected from the Heritage Trail Project would be compensated.

According to ehe chief minister, the promise of bringing about a ‘change’ made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government was going to materialise soon.

He had said every street and road in Peshawar would be reconstructed and rehabilitated, adding that the provincial government was spending Rs8 billion on the reconstruction of a road from Charsadda Road to Hayatabad.