ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Friday cleared a total of six projects costing Rs227 billion, mostly in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir, including three larger projects that were referred to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for formal approval.

A meeting of the CDWP, presided over by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, approved three projects with a total estimated cost of about Rs21bn and cleared two other projects of about Rs207bn for formal approval by Ecnec.

Under the current financial rules, the CDWP is empowered to itself approve projects costing no more than Rs10bn while the projects of higher estimated costs are approved by Ecnec on its recommendations after clearance on technical grounds.

The meeting recommended the largest project among the agenda items — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Investment & Institutional Support Project — worth Rs110.7bn in principle to the Ecnec for approval with the condition that its cost be rationalised.

The project is partly funded by the World Bank with a $200 million (about Rs56bn) loan to be implemented under a multi-phase programme over nine years with greater emphasis on the development and mainstreaming of the formerly tribal region covering 14 districts including eight new merged in the KP and six other frontier regions.

The project involves emergency reconstruction in the first phase related to damages caused by catastrophic 2022 floods in merged districts and then filling the development gaps. The interventions will prioritise building citizen-state relationships through strengthening the lowest tier of government and extending state systems and government presence to facilitate and ease service delivery challenges in eight newly merged districts and six frontier regions where the development gaps are largest.

The CDWP meeting rejected a cost escalation of over Rs20bn in the Mangla Dam Raising project to Rs116bn involving some additional works and services and directed the already completed project to be closed at an estimated cost of Rs96bn. This would now be formally approved by the Ecnec for closure with directives that additional works mostly related to penalties, legal services and a nullah development should be done by Azad Kashmir, Wapda and other agencies depending on their respective responsibilities as they had nothing to do with Public Sector Development Programme.

The meeting also cleared National Oilseed Enchantment Program at the cost of Rs10.96bn while adding the Sindh Component to the project already approved by the Ecnec. The National Food Security and Research Division is the sponsoring agency of the project. The key objectives of the project include increasing the phase-wise yield of three potential crops canola, sunflower and sesame to enhance the export potential of sesame seed and to encourage oilseed growers through subsidy on seed, inputs and machinery and appreciation awards and to encourage the solvent industry to procure farmers produces at a competitive price and establish procurement centre in major growing areas.

The CDWP approved three Sewage Treatment Plants and related Sewage Systems to treat Waster Water falling into Korang River and Rawal Lake for Rs6.076bn.

The establishment of a Danish School at Jia Kham Sohbatpur worth Rs1.61bn was approved by the CDWP. The Government of Balochistan is the sponsoring agency of the project.

In January this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the inauguration ceremony of the model school at Jia Khan directed to establish Danish Schools at Jia Khan Sohbatpur district and 12 other districts of Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2023