Dillydallying: CDWP meeting put off for third time
Meeting was called to consider projects worth Rs16b for approval.
According to the agenda of the meeting, the CDWP was planned to consider 14 projects worth Rs16 billion for approval. DESIGN: ESSA MALIK
ISLAMABAD:
The Planning Commission on Tuesday cancelled for the third time a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which was supposed to debate and discuss the projects recommended by the prime minister.
In the previous two instances, the meeting was called on the insistence of the Prime Minister’s Office, officials told The Express Tribune.
The CDWP, which was scheduled to meet today (Wednesday), has powers to approve up to Rs1 billion worth of projects and clear others of higher value for getting the final nod from the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec), headed by the finance minister.
“We always have meetings and sometimes we cannot meet due to some engagements,” said PC Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haque while confirming that the meeting had been put off.
According to the agenda of the meeting, the CDWP was planned to consider 14 projects worth Rs16 billion for approval. The cost also includes foreign funding of Rs1.9 billion. Of the 14 schemes, seven are for Balochistan.
Some of the projects could be approved on merit, but the way these had been pushed put a question mark over the whole affair, the officials said. They asked how the CDWP meeting had been called as the caretaker government, in the case against former president Pervez Musharraf, had told the Supreme Court that they had no other business except for holding elections.
According to the CDWP agenda, two dam projects for Balochistan costing Rs7 billion were to be considered for approval. A Rs212 million university project and Rs823 million nuclear medicine pharmacy project of the Centre for Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy for the province was also on the agenda.
The CDWP was also scheduled to hold discussions on the project for construction of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) buildings in Quetta at an estimated cost of Rs140 million and the project for a Sui Riffles accommodation building costing Rs869 million.
A couple of projects for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and a project for improving security at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports were also expected to be approved.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2013.
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The Planning Commission on Tuesday cancelled for the third time a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which was supposed to debate and discuss the projects recommended by the prime minister.
In the previous two instances, the meeting was called on the insistence of the Prime Minister’s Office, officials told The Express Tribune.
The CDWP, which was scheduled to meet today (Wednesday), has powers to approve up to Rs1 billion worth of projects and clear others of higher value for getting the final nod from the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec), headed by the finance minister.
“We always have meetings and sometimes we cannot meet due to some engagements,” said PC Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haque while confirming that the meeting had been put off.
According to the agenda of the meeting, the CDWP was planned to consider 14 projects worth Rs16 billion for approval. The cost also includes foreign funding of Rs1.9 billion. Of the 14 schemes, seven are for Balochistan.
Some of the projects could be approved on merit, but the way these had been pushed put a question mark over the whole affair, the officials said. They asked how the CDWP meeting had been called as the caretaker government, in the case against former president Pervez Musharraf, had told the Supreme Court that they had no other business except for holding elections.
According to the CDWP agenda, two dam projects for Balochistan costing Rs7 billion were to be considered for approval. A Rs212 million university project and Rs823 million nuclear medicine pharmacy project of the Centre for Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy for the province was also on the agenda.
The CDWP was also scheduled to hold discussions on the project for construction of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) buildings in Quetta at an estimated cost of Rs140 million and the project for a Sui Riffles accommodation building costing Rs869 million.
A couple of projects for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and a project for improving security at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports were also expected to be approved.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2013.
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