The CDWP on Thursday considered 64 projects costing Rs 236 billion including foreign aid of Rs 107 billion. Of the 64 projects, 37 projects relating to infrastructure sector costing Rs 187 billion, 19 in social sector costing Rs 44 billion and 8 costing Rs 5.0 billion relating to food & agriculture and industrial sector, were approved/recommended by the CDWP.
The CDWP meeting was held with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr Nadeem ul Haque in the chair. The meeting was attended by the sponsoring agencies and the representatives from provincial governments and special areas. The CDWP is authorised to approve projects costing up to Rs 1.0 billion.
On Thursday, the CDWP recommended 24 projects costing Rs 218 billion to Ecnec for consideration/approval. Out of 68 projects, 13 projects have been revised and their net addition to the cost is Rs 25 billion. The 15 projects are budgeted in the federal PSDP 2010-11 with an allocation of Rs 6.5 billion. Main projects approved/recommended on are as under:
Energy sector: 11 projects of energy sector costing Rs 62 billion were approved/recommended mainly included "Allai Khwar Hydropower Project (121 MW) (Revised PC-I) (Rs 13 billion)," "Augmentation of 500/132 kV & 220/132 kV Transformers in NTDC System (Rs 4 billion)" and an important project "Natural Gas Efficiency Project costing Rs 37 billion."
The said project will be implemented with financial assistance of World Bank with main objective to reduce gas losses in the SSGC system through i) Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) reduction programme, ii) Appliance Efficiency Pilot project and iii) Technical Assistance for improving skills and training at SSGCL Gas Training Institute.
Road & rail sector: 12 projects of T&C sector costing Rs 75 billion were approved/recommended including "Doubling of Track on Shahdra Bagh to Lalamusa (126 km) (Rs 14 billion)," "Doubling of Track from Khanewal to Raiwind (Rs 13 billion)," "Doubling of Track on Shahdra Bagh to Faisalabad (Rs 11 billion)," etc.
Water sector: 7 projects costing Rs 47 billion approved/recommended, main projects were "Lower Bari Doab Canal Improvement Project (Revised) (Rs 30.0 billion)," "Punjab Irrigation System Improvement Project (Rs 9.3 billion)," and "Rehabilitation/Reconstruction of Flood Damages in Balochistan Sector Irrigation & Power (Rs 5 billion)," etc.
Physical Planning & Housing: 5 projects costing Rs 3.0 billion of PP&H Sector were approved/recommended by CDWP mainly "Establishment of Statistics Training and Research Institute at Lahore costing Rs 662 million and "Construction of Anti Narcotics Force Academy at Islamabad costing Rs 455.0 million.
Higher education: 5 projects of HEC costing about Rs 4.5 billion were approved by the CDWP mainly included "Upgradation of University College of Engineering & Technology Mirpur into Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mirpur costing Rs 1.9 billion and "Development of Infrastructure at Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Utthal Balochistan (Rs 1.0 billion)," etc.
Health sector: An important vertical project of health sector titled "Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) (Revised) (Rs 25.0 billion). Information Technology: To curb the cyber crime in the country, a project of Information Technology "National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NRCC) (Phase-II) (Rs 479 million)" was also approved.
Agriculture & industrial sector, important projects of Agriculture like "Community Development Project for Rehabilitation of Salt Affected and Water logged Lands (Revised PC-I) costing Rs 795 million)," "Infrastructure Development of Industrial Estate, Larkana costing Rs 2.4 billion and "Establishment of Apple & other Fruits Processing Complex at Quetta costing Rs 495.0 million, etc, were approved/recommended by CDWP. Other projects of mass media, manpower, forestry and governance sectors were also approved/recommended by the CDWP.-PR