Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) may approve 20 projects costing over Rs 188 billion in communications, water, housing and rural development sectors in its meeting scheduled for September 3. Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin, will chair the meeting.
According to the agenda of the meeting available with Business Recorder, ECNEC will consider for approval two projects in Transport and Communications sector, 16 projects in the water and power sector, one project in PP & H sector and one project in rural development sector.
According to sources, ECNEC will take up two projects in transport and communications sector that were not approved in the last meeting as the Finance Minister had stated that the government was unable to allocate Rs 105.688 billion required for 'Revival of Karachi Circular Railway as Modern Commuter System' project. Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin had requested that the costs should be revisited and the proposal resubmitted for ECNEC's approval.
Another project rejected in the last meeting was 'Procurement/Manufacture of 202 New Design Passenger Coaches' worth Rs 15.889 billion. The Finance Minister had raised concerns about the cost of the project and asked the Ministry to revise the cost and resubmit the proposal to ECNEC, sources said and added, "Now the project is again on the agenda of ECNEC to be considered for approval."
While 16 projects in water and power sector costing around Rs 56 billion will be tabled before ECNEC for approval. These projects include 4 small dams costing 26 billion in Balochistan, two small and medium sized dams worth Rs 4.379 billion in Sindh, one dam in NWFP and one dam costing 1.352 billion in Punjab.
These dams include "Construction of Ghabir Dam (Sindh), Construction of Darawat (Baran) Dam Project (Sindh), Construction of Papin Dam Project (Punjab), Winder Dam, Naulong Dam Project, Garuk Storage Dam, Pelar Storage Dam (Balochistan).
Other projects of water and Power Sector are Bara Dam Multipurpose Dam Project worth Rs 4.805 billion, New Khanki Barrage Construction Project costing Rs 1.5 billion, Sukkur Barrage Rehabilitation and Improvement Project, Kabul River and Warsak Canal System, Satpara Dam Project (Revised) and Sabakzai Dam Project (2nd Revised PC 1). The other two projects include NWFP Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP) Revised PC-1 and Pyara Kashmir Programme in Azad Jummu and Kashmir (AJK).