ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved a Rs45.69 million educational project and referred three projects valued at Rs358.81 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval.

The decisions were taken in a meeting presided over by Planning Commission’s Deputy Chairman Jehanzeb Khan, who heads the CDWP. The projects recommended to Ecnec cover areas of education, physical planning and housing.

The CDWP is authorised to approve projects costing up to Rs1bn, whereas projects valued higher are recommended to Ecnec.

The caretaker government has approved several key development initiatives across Sindh and Punjab. This flurry of approvals spanning various sectors has been observed over the past month, coinciding with the election campaign period, where all political parties are vying for power.

These decisions regarding development projects may politically influence the electoral landscape, potentially impacting the upcoming elections and undermining the Election Commission’s commitment to ensuring free and fair polls.

The project approved by the CDWP was titled the ‘Capacity Building of Education Managers’, worth Rs45.69m, aimed at bolstering the education sector.

Among the projects earmarked for further review is the ‘GRADES’ initiative in Punjab, with a budget of Rs42.75bn. The project aims to consolidate the province’s response to the learning losses accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic, which have been a major setback for progress in education indicators.

Punjab responded on various fronts with SOPs, a reduced curriculum, re-enrolment campaigns, remote learning opportunities, maintaining education budgets and other measures, but the losses are still visible in macro-indicators.

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The World Bank is set to finance this project, contributing a total of $150m in loans, with $96.88m provided on project mode and $53.12m through performance-based conditions.

For Sindh, the CDWP recommended the ‘Sindh Basic Education Programme’, estimated at Rs20.06bn, with funding primarily through a $154.98m grant from USAID and a governmental contribution of Rs870m from the provincial government.

The third project recommended to Ecnec is the revised ‘Physical Planning and Housing’ scheme, valued at Rs296bn, aimed at aiding flood-affected people in Sindh.

This project will see contributions from multiple sources, including a $500m loan from the World Bank and $200m from the Islamic Development Bank. The Sindh government will contribute a counterpart share of Rs50bn.

This project aims to help flood-affected people across all districts of Sindh build and repair their houses. With the assistance of the World Bank and the government of Sindh, the project will be implemented in 36 months.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2024