ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) is expected to take up four development projects involving an estimated cost of Rs241 billion including two much-delayed major water sector projects of over Rs177bn and a Rs43bn controversial road project in Balochistan.

To be presided over by the deputy chairman Planning Commission on Tuesday, the meeting of the CDWP will also take up a Rs43bn road project in Balochistan despite strong opposition from the Planning Commission on technical, financial and legal grounds and unwillingness of the management of Reko Diq Copper-Gold Project, on whose name the project is being pushed, to utilise it in the short or medium term.

Informed sources said the CDWP had not cleared the Rs22.8bn worth of automation of 25 sites of the Indus River Basin for water discharge monitoring for violation of its earlier directions, increasing in number of sites from seven already approved by the CDWP to 25 without confidence building with the provinces and increasing the cost from Rs2.5bn to Rs22.84bn.

However, the informed sources said the executing agencies and other influential players had, of late, started pushing controversial development projects through the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) without completion of technical and financial parameters and other formalities.

Body will consider installation of 25 telemetry systems and a controversial road project

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Another such project before the CDWP would be the Rs43bn “construction of Mashkhel-Pangoor Road (including an additional link from Pak-Iran border to Chedgai, Balochistan”. The project — a 192-kilometre road — was routed through the SIFC by the National Highway Authority (NHA) at an estimated cost of Rs29.95bn on Sept 22, 2023 as a “priority project” for connecting the Riko Diq Project with Gwadar Port. The CDWP did not clear the project on Oct 26, 2023 on the objections of the Planning Commission and directed the Ministry of Communications and NHA to review the project “both technically and financially, to economise and rationalise the cost in consultation with the member (infrastructure of Planning Commission) and Balochistan government” and should also provide feasibility study“.

Instead, the project came back to the CDWP without complying with the previous recommendations and involving over 53pc increase in project cost in a matter of three months to Rs46bn, later revised to Rs43bn.

Various departments of the Planning Commission including the Transport & Communication (T&C) and Infrastructure & Regional Connectivity (I&RC) Departments have strongly opposed the project on technical, financial and legal grounds and pointed out that executing agencies [in this case the NHA] were bypassing procedural and technical requirements.

The Planning Commission pointed out that NHA already had a throw-forward of around Rs1.68 trillion for its ongoing and new projects which are already part of PSDP 2023-24. Therefore, the addition of Rs43bn project in the PSDP for completion in 30 months was questionable. “Keeping in view the above position, it is clear that there is no more space available in PSDP to accommodate any new project of NHA. If the instant project is approved, its funding cannot be ensured from PSDP as per its financial phasing”, it said, adding that the inclusion of new projects in NHA’s portfolio without giving due consideration to its throw-forward in PSDP will result in a delay in completion of all ongoing NHA projects and it would come back with upward revised project funding for all projects.

It also put on record that the cost of ongoing projects had been going up every year. “Almost all projects of NHA go into revision with increased cost.

Moreover, there are pending liabilities of projects in billions which have been completed only physically not financially“ and hence the Ministry of Communications and NHA should first come up with a business plan for its portfolio because “all the new and ongoing projects of NHA are susceptible to escalate and will go in time and cost overrun” as a large number of its projects had been revised in the last decade due to poor designing and changes in scope and delayed procurement.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2024