ISLAMABAD  -  The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Monday approved development projects costing Rs448.36 billion including ‘Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme K-IV, 260 MGD Phase –I’.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin chaired the ECNEC meeting. The ECNEC discussed in detail and approved Punjab Arterial Roads Improvement Programme (PARIP) worth Rs129,944.15 ($773.20) million. The project sponsored by government of Punjab envisages construction of 535 km of dual carriageway highway sections between various cities in the Punjab province.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said that ECNEC has approved four road infrastructure projects for Punjab valuing Rs130 billion. In a tweet, he said that the road projects include Kamalia-Shorkot-Chowk Azam-Layyah; Hasilpur-Bahawalnagar; Vehari-Pakpattan-Debalpur and Shorkot-Jhang.

Meanwhile, ECNEC after detailed deliberation approved Punjab Rural Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRSWSSP) amounting to Rs. 96,202 (USD 553.0) million to be executed by Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company in 16 Tehsils of Punjab with directions to reduce its implementation time and carry out it initially as pilot project in some Tehsils and submit its report to the ECNEC for further consideration. The project has been designed to provide basic civic amenities such as water supply, sanitation and solid waste management in the rural areas of selected Tehsils of Punjab.

ECNEC discussed and approved Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme K-IV, 260 MGD Phase –I at a revised cost of 126,404.751 million. Initially, the project was approved with original capacity of 260 MGD in 2014 to be executed by Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Govt of Sindh. Later the project was revised and included in Karachi Transportation Plan (KTP) with the same 260 MGD capacity but change of sponsoring and executing agencies from Govt of Sindh to Ministry of Water Resources and WAPDA in 2021. The project aims to meet growing water demand of Karachi and provide dependable and sustainable water transmission system from its more than 100 KMs away source of Keenjhar Lake to feed Karachi water supply and distribution network.

Asad Umar said that ECNEC has also approved K-4 project based on new design at a cost of Rs126 billion. He said twenty-six crore gallons of water will reach Karachi by October next year. He said the federal government has fulfilled yet another promise under Karachi’s Transformation Plan.

ECNEC also approved Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project to be executed on BOT basis under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode at a total cost of 95,810.260 million rupees. The project envisages construction of 04 lane access-controlled 117.20 km in length motorway from Kharian to Rawalpindi.

Asad Umar said the ECNEC also approved Rawalpindi-Kharian motorway to be constructed under Public-Private Partnership. He said the project will be completed at a cost of thirty billion rupees in thirty months.

Commenting on the approval of the project, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhary Fawad Hussain, in a tweet, said this project will usher in a new era of development in North and Central Punjab. He said forty two constituencies of National Assembly will benefit from it. He said this project will reduce by one hundred kilometers the distance between Islamabad and Lahore.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Asad Umer, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusroo Bakhtiar, Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, federal secretaries and other senior officers from federal as well as provincial governments participated in the meeting.