Development projects: Govt approves mega water, energy schemes worth Rs174b

Approval comes in face of rising outages and falling water resources.

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday approved nine mega projects of the water and energy sectors amounting to Rs174 billion as the country was passing through a phase where outages were increasing and water supply was declining.

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which met here with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haque in the chair, approved these projects.

CDWP has authority to approve projects worth up to Rs1 billion and the rest are recommended to the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) for final approval.

It considered 40 schemes costing Rs237 billion. These schemes belonged to fields like science and technology, agriculture, physical planning and housing, industries and commerce, governance, education, energy, water and transport.

Of the total, CDWP cleared 29 projects worth Rs191.6 billion. Out of these, 19 projects having a total cost of Rs5.6 billion were approved. Cost of all these projects is less than Rs1 billion.

This was the second consecutive week when CDWP met and cleared development projects. Last week, it gave the go-ahead to 20 schemes worth a total of Rs9.5 billion, while five projects of Rs35.5 billion were referred to Ecnec.

The Planning Commission is facing a daunting task to allocate scarce resources for development. For the current fiscal year, it has a development budget of Rs300 billion but requirements of already approved projects are around Rs3 trillion.

In Wednesday’s meeting, CDWP approved two energy schemes costing Rs426 million while four mega projects worth Rs56 billion were recommended to Ecnec. These included a detailed study for establishing a nuclear power plant at Muzaffargarh.

In the water sector, out of 12 schemes, four were approved costing Rs1.3 billion while five mega projects costing Rs118 billion were recommended to Ecnec. Three schemes were deferred for further scrutiny by different committees.

According to the World Bank, water availability is declining in Pakistan, which needs to introduce projects for efficient consumption besides building dams for storage.

CDWP also recommended one scheme related to transport and communications costing Rs12 billion.

Out of five science and technology schemes, two having a cost of Rs1.3 billion were approved while three costing Rs2.9 billion were deferred for further scrutiny.

Four schemes of the physical planning and housing sector costing Rs870 million were also approved.

Of three schemes related to industries and commerce, one worth Rs955 million was approved while two worth Rs3 billion were sent for scrutiny.

In the area of governance, three projects worth Rs1.3 billion were approved. In the education sector, out of five schemes, three costing Rs469 million were approved while two costing Rs14.7 billion were deferred for vetting.

The government has transferred the education ministry to the provinces under the 18th amendment in the constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2012.