ISLAMABAD: The Central Deve­­l­o­pment Working Party (CDWP) on Monday approved two major projects worth Rs191.722 billion in the field of health, physical planning and housing.

The CDWP meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jehanzeb Khan appr­oved one project and recommended it to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for further consideration.

Rs528m safe blood transfusion services project okayed for Islamabad

An official announcement said projects related to health, physical planning and housing, education, information technology sectors were presented in the meeting.

The CDWP meeting discussed the first revised project of Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme K-IV 650 million gallons per day (MGD). The Ministry of Water Resources presented the project at a cost of Rs191.194 billion. The CDWP after deliberation recommended the project to Ecnec for further consideration.

The project was recommended at a reduced scope of 260 MGD water at a cost of Rs126bn along with the constitution of a committee to settle certain observations before the submission of the project to Ecnec.

PC deputy chairman emphasised that there was severe water shortage in Karachi and the project had to be carried out on a fast-track basis.

The CDWP approved a project of the Ministry of National Health Services worth Rs528.383 million for establishment of safe blood transfusion services in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The project is proposed to be financed through the Public Sector Development Programme and foreign funding.

The overall project objective is the establishment of a state-of-the-art Regional Blood Centre (RBC) in Islamabad to provide safe blood and blood products to the linked hospital blood banks of ICT. Elimination of duplication of services, improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness by placing hospital blood banks under RBC 3 Islamabad for the supply of safe blood products. The project aims to increase voluntary non-remunerated blood donation and ensure rational use of blood and blood products.

The CDWP meeting also cleared two Position Papers (PP) worth Rs3.176bn. The first PP was presented by the Ministry of Federal Education worth Rs1.253bn for establishment of Directorate Gene­ral of Religious Education. The second PP was presented by the Min­istry of Information Technology at a cost of Rs1.922bn for Cyber Security for Digital Pakistan Phase-1 ICT.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2021