Faiza Tehseen

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa plans to develop Thandiani resort in the Abbottabad district as an Integrated Tourist Zone (ITZ) to help open new avenues of sustainable livelihoods for the local communities. “The increased flow of both domestic and foreign tourists will also help enhance revenue generation, boost the country’s GDP, and foreign exchange earnings,” an official of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture and Tourism Authority (KPCTA) informed WealthPK on condition of anonymity. The official, who is a social development specialist in KPCTA, said Thandiani would be the first-ever properly developed tourism hotspot. “All the international standards will be followed for sustainable development of the region according to the proper destination management system.”

The official said Thandiani was one of the prioritised ITZs in KP to make the province a premier eco-adventure tourism destination. “It is divided into four main zones – the central village zone, the destination zone, the northern accommodation zone, and the southern accommodation zone.” He said the Thandiani ITZ would have a variety of facilities like modern hotels, condo hotels, also known as condotels, serviced apartments, multiple recreational areas, shopping malls, commercial complexes, leisure parks, wellness complexes, family-oriented recreational places, etc. “ITZ Thandiani covers a total area of 49 acres of land nestling among the Mansehra-Kaghan ecotourism cluster,” he said, adding that the project would be launched under the public-private partnership.

He maintained that a number of tax exemptions and other facilities would be offered to investors/developers. “All the stakeholders will be strictly bound to follow the rules for nature conservation and to keep the area pollution-free in all respects.” Talking to WealthPK about the conservation of ecosystem in ITZ Thandiani, Aitezaz Mahfooz, divisional forest officer, forestry planning and monitoring circle, Peshawar, said turning Thandiani into an ITZ was an arduous task as it was little bit hard to conserve the natural ecosystem in hilly areas as they had specific climatic nature and special natural flora.  He said Pakistan could get expertise from developed countries while implementing a robust ecosystem conservation mechanism. He called for all the relevant departments to coordinate to help promote ecosystem conservation and environmental protection in tourist hotspots.

Credit: INP-WealthPk