The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved as many as eight development projects at the cost of Rs 31.6 billion and recommended five projects valuing at Rs 195.1 billion to the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) for consideration.
The CDWP met with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan in the chair here on Monday. Senior officials from the federal and provincial governments were also present in the meeting.
The projects related to devolution & area development, education, energy, governance, health industries & commerce, food & agriculture and physical planning & housing were presented in the meeting.
A project related to devolution & area development namely "Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project (SPPAP)" at cost of worth Rs 15.53 billion was referred to the ECNEC. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to reduction of poverty in Southern Punjab region. The project aims to increase the income of poor households by increasing agriculture productivity, improved livelihood opportunities, improve community physical infrastructure and level of skills through vocational trainings especially for women.
Two projects related to education were presented in the meeting. The first project was "Establishment & Operation of Basic Education Community Schools" at cost of Rs 5.195 billion and "Improving Human Development Indicators in Pakistan with focus on MDGS is relating to education and six EFA Goals" worth Rs 3.31 billion were approved in the meeting with the direction that government of Balochistan will not come up for any further revision of both the projects.
Four projects related to energy were presented in the meeting. First project titled "500 kV Chakwal substation" at revised cost of Rs 9 billion and "Hydropower & Renewable Energy-II, Gilgit-Baltistan (KFW) " worth Rs 2.26 billion were approved. Two projects "Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project" worth Rs 122.98 billion and "Evacuation of power for Wind power project at Jhampir and Gharo" worth Rs 13.406 billion were recommended to the ECNEC for approval.
According to documents, there are Rs 62.28 billion local components and Rs 60.7 billion foreign exchange component for the Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project. According to working paper of revised PC-I, the cost of the project has been increased from Rs 83.6 billion to Rs 122.98 billion due to deprivation of rupee value against the dollar.
The World Bank's IBRD/IDA would provide $ 692 million to finance the projects. The objective of the project is expansion of the present capacity of Tarbela Dam Hydro Power Project from 3478MW to 4888 MW (addition of 1410MW) by instillation of three units of 470MW on the existing tunnel 4.
There is Rs 6.543 billion financing from local component and Rs 6.86 billion financing from foreign exchange component for evacuation of power for wind power project at Jhampir and Gharo. The project would be completed in 33 months. The main objective of the project is evacuation of 1256 MW power from wind project.
Two projects related to the governance namely "Punjab Cities Program (PCP)" at the cost of Rs 32.53 billion and "Pakistan Single Window" worth Rs 10.641 billion were referred to the ECNEC.
A project related to health namely "Procurement, Installation and Commissioning of Medical Equipment for three Hospitals in Afghanistan including 60 bed Nishtar Kidney Hospital, Jalalabad, 200 bed Jinnah Hospital, Kabul, and 100 bed Naib Amanullah Khan Logari Hospital, Logar" worth Rs 2.36 billion was approved by the CDWP.
A project related to industries and commerce namely "National Strategic Program for Acquisition of Industrial Technology (NASPAIT)" valuing Rs 2.914 billion was approved by the CDWP. The main objective of this project is to upgrade technology and skills of economic sectors of Pakistan; therefore, cross sector interventions are planed and designed to textile, engineering & technology and construction for knowledge based technological development of these sectors.
A project related to physical planning & housing presented in the meeting titled "Construction of three Sewerage Treatment Plants and Related Sewerage System to Treat the Waste Water Falling into Korang River, Rawal Lake and Area of ICT" at cost of Rs 3.971 billion was reconsidered due to change in shape and cost of the project and this project was also approved by the CDWP.
A project related to food & agriculture was presented namely "Promoting Research for Productivity Enhancement in Pluses" worth Rs 2.6 billion was also approved by the CDWP.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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