ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday approved 11 development projects worth Rs102 billion involving foreign exchange component of Rs42bn in energy, environment, health, transport and communication sectors.

An amount of Rs1.15bn has already been earmarked for these projects in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the current fiscal year.

In a meeting chaired by Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, CDWP recommended four projects for approval by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec).

In the energy sector, CDWP approved a 20MW hydropower project to be located at Hanzel in Gilgit costing Rs6.248bn and will be completed in four years. The government has already included the project in PSDP with an allocation of Rs1bn including a foreign exchange component of Rs948.37 million.

Another project in the energy sector which got approval was 220kV transmission system network reinforcement in Islamabad and Burhan worth about Rs3.5bn, with foreign exchange component of Rs1.65bn. The project, having an allocation of Rs250m in the PSDP, will be completed in three years.

CDWP recommended for approval by Ecnec a 1,410MW Tarbela fifth extension hydropower project which would cost about Rs80bn and will be completed in four years.

CDWP approved procurement of and manufacture of 585 hopper and 25 bogie vans at a cost of Rs6bn including foreign exchange component of Rs4bn. These wagons will be exclusively used for coal transportation.

In environment, the CDWP approved developing reverse linkages between the Mar­mara Research Centre of Turkey and Pakistan Meteo­rological Department. The project will cost Rs101m involving a foreign exchange component of Rs80m. The project will be completed in two years.

The construction of a 200-bed cardiac hospital in Gilgit at a cost of Rs2.6bn was also approved by CDWP. The hospital will be completed in three years.

The CDWP approved construction of staff quarters for the Ministry of Railways in Sindh and Punjab at the cost of Rs475m. These quarters will be completed by September next year.

The construction of Sanam, Palai and Kundal dam project in Swabi was approved and will cost about Rs2.336bn and to be completed in three years. Three projects of the Planning Ministry — China-Pakistan Economic Corridor support project costing Rs409m, National Initiatives for SDGS worth Rs1bn and Integrated Transport Infrastructure Planning and Management Unit worth Rs300m — were also approved.

Published in Dawn October 2nd, 2015

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