Rs 259.35 billion approved for Sukkur-Multan section of KLM

Executive Committee of National Economic Council chaired by the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has approved 12 projects worth Rs 440 billion, including Rs 259.353 billion for the construction of Sukkur-Multan section of Karachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM). An official said that some additional projects, which were not on the agenda, were also taken up by the meeting.
The ECNEC approved Rs 6.499 billion for the acquisition of land for establishment of free trade zone at Gwadar. The meeting was told that 2281 acres of land would be acquired for the establishment of a free trade zone at the Gwadar port; out of which 1627 acres of land would be acquired from private land owners. The Finance Minister directed that Planning Development and Reform Division should monitor physical progress as well as the results that these projects envisaged to achieve.
Dar said that submission of the PC-4 must be a regular exercise. The meeting was informed that 10 percent cost of Karachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM) Project's construction of Sukkur-Multan section (387 km) would be provided through Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and the rest of cost would come as credit financing through government of China. The project will be completed by October 2017; its executing agency is NHA. The project envisages construction of a 387 km-long, six-lanes Sukkur-Multan section of 1148 km Karachi-Lahore Motorway, including the construction of bridges, interchanges, nullahs etc.
The ECNEC also approved the project for land acquisition, affected properties' compensation and relocation of utilities for construction of 959km Karachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM) with a rationalised cost of Rs 51 billion. The ECNEC approved the raising of Balochistan Constabulary project at a rationalized cost of Rs 5.146 billion with an FEC (Foreign Exchange Component) of Rs 200 million to assist police and district administration in maintenance of law and order in Balochistan by recruiting 6,000 additional personnel and merging 4,000 reserve police men to make 10,000-strong force of Balochistan constabulary.
The ECNEC also approved flood emergency reconstruction project for bunds and canals (Revised-PC-I) at a cost of Rs 26.905 billion with the financial aid of Rs 19.279 billion by the ADB and the local component by the government of Sindh for strengthening of entire length of banks of river Indus in general and at Tori, SM Bund and FP Bund at Mancher Lake which was damaged by the unprecedented floods of 2010.
The ECNEC also considered and approved the project for Evacuation of Power from Wind Power Plants at Jhimpir & Gharo Wind Clusters located in district Thatta and Jamshoro in Sindh with a modified cost of Rs 11.277 billion. The project will be completed in three years and it envisages evacuation of 1756MW of wind power from the two sites through construction of 220 KV and 132 KV double circuit transmission lines.
The ECNEC approved the widening and improvement of 250 km of Kalat-Quetta-Chaman Road Section (KQC) of National Highway N-25 with a revised cost of Rs 19.140 billion and an FEC component of Rs 13.920 billion coming as a USAID grant. The ECNEC also approved Hasanabdal (Burhan)-Havelian Expressway (E-35, total length 59.1 km) with a rationalised cost of Rs 30.494 billion including an FEC of Rs 7.592 billion. The ECNEC approved establishment of Information Technology Management Sciences and Telecommunication Institutes at Islamabad at a revised cost of Rs 3.938 billion with an FEC of Rs 613 million. The sponsoring agency is HEC and the executing agency is National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad.
The ECNEC, in principle, approved the Prime Minister's (National) Programme for Provision of laptops to talented students (HEC) with a rationalised cost of Rs 4.928 billion to distribute 100,000 laptops in the current fiscal year amongst students. The ECNEC further approved rehabilitation and up-gradation of Trimmu Barrage and Panjnad Headworks (ADB Assisted) with a rationalised cost of Rs 16.8 billion including an ADB loan of Rs 14.9 billion.
The ECNEC considered and approved dualization and improvement of 64 km long Mandra-Chakwal Road project with a revised cost of Rs 4.671 billion. The project envisages the construction of dual way 2-lanes carriageway between Mandra and Chakwal to facilitate heavy traffic of the section.
The meeting was attended by Pervaiz Rashid, Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage, Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning and Development, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, Minister for Industries and Production, Sikandar Hyat Khan Bosan, Minister for National Food Security and Research, Zahid Hamid, Minister for Science and Technology, Mohammad Zubair, Chairman Privatisation Commission, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Advisor to CM Sindh on Finance, Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, Provincial Minister Balochistan, Federal Secretaries and senior officials of the federal and provincial governments.