CDWP approves 10 projects worth Rs40.9b

Three projects costing Rs172.25b referred to ECNEC for final approval

ISLAMABAD:

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has recommended three projects worth Rs172.25 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) while approving 10 smaller schemes valued at Rs40.915 billion, at a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Ahsan Iqbal.

Two of the three referrals are climate-resilient irrigation schemes co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which together account for Rs129.19 billion of the referred total, according to a statement issued on Monday.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Resilient Irrigated Agriculture Livelihoods Development Project, valued at Rs69,893 million, will be financed by the ADB with Rs56,132.50 million and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government with Rs11,691.90 million, with land acquisition funded through a separate planning commission proforma (PC-I). It will rehabilitate the Pehur Main Canal, construct the Mulkhow Irrigation Distribution System and extend the Pehur High Level Canal.

The Integrated Hill Torrent Management (Chachar-Mithawan) project in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, worth Rs85,342.110 million, will be co-financed by the ADB with Rs73,060 million and the Punjab government with Rs12,282.11 million, implementing spate irrigation, flood protection channels, telemetry and centralised SCADA monitoring.

The third referral is the Prime Minister's Solar Scheme for Newly Merged Districts, valued at Rs13,323 million, approved in principle to provide off-grid solar energy solutions to households.

Of the 10 approved projects, the CDWP cleared Daanish Schools across Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh at Rs122.400 million, with instructions to rationalise costs, along with a Daanish School in Kuri, Islamabad, at Rs7,357.233 million and another in Qila Saifullah, Balochistan, at Rs4,527.838 million.

Higher education schemes approved in principle include the Prime Minister's Youth Development Centres at Rs4,144.854 million, the Talent Hunt Youth Sports League (Phase-I) at Rs3,988.056 million, the National Innovation Award at Rs1,970 million and sports academies with the Youth Olympics at Rs2,955.927 million. The party also approved in principle revamping Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC) at Rs3,962.250 million and a pilot Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at the 220kV Jhimpir-I grid station at Rs4,394.720 million.

It approved an eight-lane overhead bridge at Imamia Colony Railway Crossing, Shahdara, at Rs7,492.050 million, and recommended widening of National Highway N-45 from Chakdara to Timergara, 39 kilometres, at Rs17,012.323 million to ECNEC, to be financed through Exim Bank.