ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Wednesday approved 10 development projects, mostly related to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of flood-hit areas and pre-poll public support, with an estimated cost of about Rs472 billion.

This also includes a Rs160bn foreign-funded project for the construction of more than 565,000 fully or partially damaged houses in Sindh with a World Bank loan of $500 million.

The meeting of the Ecnec presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also approved a major pre-poll initiative – National Development Internship Programme – to induct about 20,000 youth as interns in the development projects at a total cost of about Rs9bn. The financial impact would be met through contingency allocations in all development projects.

The meeting also approved another Prime Minister’s Youth Laptop Scheme (Phase-III) for Rs10.83bn to provide an opportunity to young and talented students studying in public sector higher education institutes across the country including AJK and GB. Under the envisaged Phase-III project, 100,000 laptops would be distributed among meritorious students in two years.

The Ecnec approved PC-1 of the Post-Flood 2022 Reconstruction Plan: Resilience, Enhancement and Livelihood Diversification in Balochistan at a total cost of Rs88bn ($400m) funded by the World Bank.

The project involves rehabilitation and reconstruction of community infrastructure including irrigation, drainage, flood protection, roads, reconstruction of damaged housing units, livelihood support and institutional strengthening.

The meeting also approved a Rs44.7bn Indus Highway (N-55) additional carriage project. The meeting allowed 15pc of procurement for one of the four components of the project in dollars as per guidelines of the Asian Development Bank which is providing a $241m loan (Rs40.233bn).

The meeting approved the construction of the northern section of the Ring Road (Missing Link) from Warsak Road to Nasir Bagh Road -- project at the rationalised and reduced cost of Rs17.14bn without any foreign exchange component fully funded by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The project envisages the construction of 6 lane Northern section of the Peshawar Ring road from Warsak road to Nasir Bagh road with a total length of 7.8 km. There will be 2 lane service road on each side of the Ring Road.

The Ecnec also approved another Rs18.6bn worth of provincial project named “Construction of Gravity Flow Water Supply Scheme Mansehra” to be executed by Govt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project aims at the provision of a gravity-flow potable water supply system for Mansehra city to fulfil the present and future needs up to 2040. The project on its completion will provide the required potable water supply facilities to the population of 201,249 persons for the designed period.

The meeting also approved Special Development Initiatives for Backward/Poor Districts in the country at a cost of Rs40bn on 50:50 basis between federal and provincial governments. The project aims to support interventions to bring noticeable change in the social and economic fabric of these districts.

The Ecnec approved Overseas Scholarship for MS/M.Phil leading to Ph.D. in selected fields (Phase-III) for Rs22.2bn with a foreign exchange component of Rs21.4bn to give chances to young Pakistani scholars to pursue higher education at some of the world’s leading universities.

The meeting also approved Sindh Human Capital Investment: 1,000 days -- Integrated Health and Population Programme at a total cost of Rs61.6bn including foreign funds of Rs55bn by the World Bank to improve utilisation and quality of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health and nutrition services, and women economic empowerment through skill development and micro-financing to a target population of 9.7m in selected districts of Sindh province.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers for planning, communications and commerce while finance ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa participated through video link.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2023