ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved three projects worth Rs5.52 billion and referred one project at the cost of Rs25.22 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for consideration and final approval.
The CDWP met with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan in the chair at P-Block Secretariat on Tuesday.
Senior officials from the Planning Commission and federal ministries/divisions also participated in the meeting, while representatives from the provincial governments participated through video conference.
Projects related to governance, physical planning and housing, education, and science and technology were presented at the meeting.
A project related to governance section presented at the meeting for extension in implementation period of "Young Development Fellows (2nd Revision)" worth Rs133.720 million was approved by the CDWP.
The programme aims at grooming talented young women and men with distinguished academic background and potential for the leadership.
This programme will enhance the capacity of young Pakistanis in the area relevant to the Planning Commission such as development, strategic planning, performance management and evaluation, project management, energy, public policy formulation, and development communications.
Two projects related to physical planning and housing were presented in the meeting.
First project namely, "Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV) 260mgd (Phase-1)" worth Rs25.552 billion was referred to the Ecnec for approval.
The K-IV has been designed with the total capacity of 650mgd (million gallons per day) to meet the demand of 18.5 million inhabitants of Karachi city.
The project is being executed by the government of Sindh, where an extraordinary delay in execution was noticed.
Hence, the Sindh government was requested to change the executing agency as WAPDA. Deputy Chairman Planning Commission emphasized that there is a severe water shortage in Karachi, and therefore, the project needs to be carried out on a fast track, and all the agencies involved are committed to fast track/prioritizing the project.
Another project titled, "Provision of Clean Drinking Water in Model Areas UC-99, 100 and 101, Lahore" worth Rs1,655.185 million was approved at the meeting.
A project related to education namely "Renovation/Rehabilitation of Physical Infrastructure of 200 Educational Institutions under Prime Ministers' Education Reform Program in ICT, Islamabad (phase-II)" worth Rs3,737.288 million was approved by the CDWP.
The revised project envisaged for construction of 237 classrooms, repainting/renovation of infrastructure, repair of floors, rising of boundary wall, and construction of water tank etc.
The objective of the project is to provide better infrastructure of public institution, to provide conducive and better environment and to provide missing facilities in the ICT schools.
A Concept Clearance paper presented by the government of Punjab namely, "Revamping of Water supply and Sewerage Facilities in Multan" worth Rs4,000 million was cleared by the concept clearance committee.
The sponsoring agency will be the JICA and the executing agency would be the WASA, MDA Multan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020