PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, accompanied by Khyber Pakthunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of KP’s first ever zoo in Peshawar.

Addressing the gathering after the ground-breaking ceremony of the zoo, which will be constructed beside the premises of the Pakistan Forests Institute (PFI), the PTI chief said the zoo will provide better recreational facilities to people of the militancy-stricken city.

He said the PTI government was committed to providing better recreational and sports facilities to people and will also construct sports stadiums at the union council level.

About the provincial government’s future endeavours, the PTI chief said the general bus stand will be shifted to another location and the freed land would be utilised for establishment of recreational parks, cinema houses and playgrounds.

PTI leader Shaukat Yusufzai, while talking to media, said previous governments in the province had overlooked establishment of such facilities while the PTI government delivered on its promise.

PTI supporters soon started praising the provincial government’s step and the trend #KPGetsThe1stZoo started trending on Twitter.

The idea of setting up a zoo in Peshawar was floated during the previous government when a group of students from Beaconhouse School System, Khyber Campus, Hayatabad, Peshawar had collected signatures to petition the then chief minister Amin Haider Hoti to announce the construction of a zoo in Peshawar.

Peshawar Development Authority had offered to provide a land in Regi Lalma for Rs240 million, which was beyond the allocated funds for the zoo. Another site Dheri Zardad, along Nowshera-Charsadda Motorway, was also not suitable as it was not easily accessible. So the idea of establishing the zoo was dropped.

In November, the PTI government finally found a suitable site for establishing a zoo in the city, near the Pakistan Forest Institute. A site which is not only accessible and suitable but would also help to make a Zoo bigger than Lahore Zoo, which was established over 24 acres.