By Kamran Raja
CDWP gives go-ahead to Twenty Projects worth of Rs 155.74bn projects.
At a CDWP meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, cleared fifteen development projects with a cumulative cost of Rs. 38.24bn & recommended five projects worth Rs. 117.50bn to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
Senior officials from Planning Commission and Federal Ministries/Divisions also participated in the meeting while representatives from Provincial Governments participated through video conferences.
Projects related to Transport & Communications, Education, Energy, Environment, Governance, Health, Information Technology, Higher Education, Water Resources and Physical Planning & Housing were considered in the meeting.
Four projects related to Transport & Communications presented in the meeting namely “Construction of Gilgit- Shandor Road (Length 216 km) on EPC Mode” worth Rs. 49946.070 million recommended to ECNEC for consideration. Three projects namely “Construction Rehabilitation Improvement & widening of Chitral Ayun Bumborate Road” worth Rs 7022.580 million and “Rehabilitation and Up-gradation of Awaran Jhaljao Road” worth Rs. 7412.722 million and “Feasibility Study and Transaction Advisory Services for Peshawar Greater Railways” worth Rs. 64.934 million were approved by CDWP forum.
A project related to Education presented in the meeting namely “Sindh Early Learning Enhancement through Classroom Transformation” worth Rs.28000 million refer to ECNEC for further consideration. The project has been designed with the lending support from the World Bank and grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The project will annually benefit 0.85 million primary school students and 0.19 million grade 6-8 students in the selected target districts, where educational outcomes and gender equity are low, benefiting about 5.1 million student-year over the next five years.
A project related to Energy presented in the forum namely “500/132 kV Allama Iqbal Industrial City, M-3 Industrial City Grid Station for supply of Power to Special Economic Zones in FIEDMC” worth Rs. 6649.01 million approved by CDWP. The main scope of the project was to meet with the 600 MW load demand of upcoming industrial estate AIIC under CPEC and M3-IC located at Sahianwala interchange at Faisalabad to be set by FIEDMC.
A project related to Environment presented in the meeting namely “Pakistan Hydro-Met and Climate Services Project” worth Rs. 9600.00 million approved by the forum. The purpose of the project is to strengthen the delivery of reliable and timely climate change and hydro-metrological services and enhance community resilience to shocks, including socio-economic disruptions caused to communities by climate risk.
A project related to Governance presented in the meeting namely “Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support for Sustainable Development Goals in Gilgit Baltistan” worth Rs. 200 million approved by CDWP.
Three projects related to Health were presented in the forum namely “Up-Gradation of DHQ and THQ Hospitals in AJK Under the COVID-19 Responsive nd other Natural Calamities Control Program” worth Rs. 1102.64 and “Up-Gradation of THQ Hospital Jaranwala District Faisalabad (From 60 Bedded to 100 Bedded)” worth Rs. 287.818 million and “Up-Gradation of Atomic Energy Medical Center Phase-II Karachi” worth Rs. 2329.640 million were approved by the CDWP.
SUPARCO presented two projects related to Information Technology namely “Feasibility and System Definition Study of Pakistan Remote Sensing Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite System” worth Rs. 275 million and “Advanced System for Pak Sat-IR Ground Control Segment” worth Rs. 897.212 million were also approved in the meeting.
Three projects related to Water Resources presented in the meeting namely “Construction of Awaran dam in District Panjgoor (S. Balochistan)” worth Rs. 14869.937 million and “Construction of Panjgoor Storage Dam in District Panjgoor (S. Balochistan)” worth Rs. 12870.711 million and “Construction of Gish Kaur Dam in District Kech (S. Balochistan)” worth Rs. 11789.592 million were recommended to ECNEC for further approval.
A project related to Physical Planning & Housing presented in the meeting namely “Pak-China Technical & Vocational Institute at Gwadar” worth Rs. 2099.262 million was approved in the meeting.
Ministry of Commerce presented three markets boarder projects namely “Establishment of Joint Border Market at Gabd, Chedgi Panjgoor, and Mand, Kech Balochistan” worth Rs. 300 million were approved by CDWP forum.