ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) cleared four development projects of a total cost of Rs363.38 billion.
The CDWP approved one development project at a cost of Rs45.69 million and recommended three projects valuing Rs358.810 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
The CDWP met with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan in the chair at P-Block Secretariat on Thursday.
Secretary Planning Awais Manzur Sumra, senior officials from the Planning Commission and federal ministries/divisions participated in the meeting, while Chairman/ACS (Dev) from provincial governments also participated in the meeting.
Projects related to the education, physical planning and housing sectors were considered in the meeting.
Three projects related to education were presented in the meeting namely, “Getting Results Access and Delivery of Quality Education Services (GRADES) Punjab project” worth Rs42.750 billion recommended to ECNEC for further consideration.
The GRADES project aims to consolidate Punjab’s response to the learning losses accumulated during the theCovid-19 pandemic, which have been a major setback for progress in Punjab’s education indicators. While Punjab responded on various fronts with SOPs, a reduced curriculum, re-enrollment campaigns, remote learning opportunities, maintaining education budgets and other measures, the losses are still visible in macro-indicators.
The total amount of funding will be provided by the World Bank through a loan, with US$ 96.877 million provided on project mode and US$ 53.123 million through Performance-Based Conditions (PBC).
The education sector’s second project, the “Sindh Basic Education Program,” valued at Rs20.061 billion, has been recommended to the ECNEC for consideration.
This initiative is stated to be funded through foreign sources, with an approximate foreign grant of $154.978 million from USAID (equivalent to around Rs19,190.562 million), and a contribution of Rs870 million (approximately $10 million) from the Government of Sindh.
During the meeting, another project in the education sector, titled, “Capacity Building of Education Managers (CBEM) (2nd Revised),” with a value of Rs45.69 million, was approved by the CDWP forum after a detailed discussion.
A project related to physical planning and housing presented in the meeting namely, “Flood Response Emergency Housing Project (revised)” at a cost of Rs296 billion recommended to ECNEC for consideration. The Government of Sindh will contribute counterpart share of Rs50,000, million, where World Bank loan financing would be $500 million equivalent to Rs140 billion. Islamic Development Bank via Islamic Financing arrangements are US$200 million equivalent to Rs56 billion.
The project aims to support the flood-affected people in all districts of the Sindh in the reconstruction and repairs of their houses. The original project with the assistance of the World Bank and the Government of Sindh with the implementation period of 36 months.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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