Official says location is the best option but critics see lack of infrastructure
Shakeel Qadir Khan is the man charged with the monumental task of shifting an entire city.
Balakot was once a thriving riverside community of 50,000. But since the October 8 earthquake, it has laid in ruins, with up to 20,000 of its residents thought to have been killed.
Ninety per cent of all buildings were destroyed, forcing survivors to take refuge in hundreds of tent villages scattered across the North-West Frontier Province.
They will never return to live in their home town, the government having recently declared the city unsalvageable due to the fact it lies on major seismic fault lines. The government has stopped all reconstruction work and decided to shift the town to a safer location.
Though the site for the new city has not been formally announced, Mr Khan, a top official from the nearby town of Mansehra, said a location named Bakaryaal had been selected.