ISLAMABAD - Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved 20 projects worth Rs 80.6 billion. Out of these schemes, five projects worth Rs 60.9 billion have been referred to ECNEC for further proceeding.
Central Development Working Party meeting was held under the chairmanship of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Sartaj Aziz and was attended by senior officials from federal and provincial governments. The projects presented for approval included energy, transport & communications, physical planning & housing, science & technology, governance, devolution & area development, industries & commerce, health and mass media.
In energy sector, a project titled 220kV Mastung substation along with 220kV Sibbi-Mastung-Quetta-Loralai double circuit transmission lines worth Rs14.143 billion was referred to ECNEC for further approval. The main objective of the project is upgradation of existing 132kV Mastung grid station to 220kV level along with associated transmission lines to meet with the additional load demand & voltage profile improvement of QESCO area.
CDWP approved four projects in transport & communication out of which one was referred to ECNEC for approval. The projects included land acquisition, affected properties compensation and relocation of utilities for KKH phase 2 CPEC (Havelian-Thakot) Project (119.681km), reconstruction of Manghopir road from Jam Chakro to Banaras (8.10km), construction of flyover etc. Lastly, reconstruction of Nishtar Road from Teen Hatti to Napier and Manghopir Road from Banaras to Nishter was approved in CDWP.
In physical planning & housing, 5-MGD Reverse Osmosis Sea Water Plant for Gwadar City was approved in CDWP meeting. The project aims to meet the future of 10.0 MGD by 2020.
In science and technology section, six projects were approved in CDWP out of which one project was referred to ECNEC worth Rs. 20.9 billion. The projects include overseas scholarship for Ph.D in selected fields; the project envisages Ph.D. level training of 2000 talented candidates in selected fields to meet the faculty requirement of the already established and newly proposal skills. In addition, five projects were approved by CDWP including establishment of college of nursing & strengthening of community medicine department at Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women Nawabshah, upgradation of synthetic fibre development and application centre (SFDAC) and plastic technology centre (PTC) Karachi as a sub-campus of National Textile University, establishment of women campus of Kohat university of science & technology in Kohat, establishment of university campus for women at Bannu and lastly institute of science & technology Bahawalpur.
In governance section, assessing and strengthening the competition regime in Pakistan worth Rs. 157 million was approved. The major aim of CCP was to provide for a legal framework to create a business environment based on healthy competition for improving economic efficiency, developing competitiveness and protecting consumers from anti-competitive practices.
In devolution and area development, Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project (SPPAP) was referred to ECNEC worth Rs. 7.6 billion. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to reduction of poverty in southern Punjab region. The project aims to increase the incomes of poor households by increasing agriculture productivity, improved livelihood opportunities, improve community physical infrastructure and level of skills through vocational trainings especially for women.
In industries & commerce unit, procurement of three machines of modernisation of survey of Pakistan and 1000 industrial stitching units were approved with costs Rs 373.9 & Rs. 350.5 million respectively.
In health section, three projects were discussed and approved which included Maternal New born and Child Health program (MNCH) 2015-2018, MNCH Gilgit Baltistan and MNCH AJK with costs of Rs 862.352, Rs. 340.374 & Rs. 1497.901 respectively.
Strengthening of sports infrastructure was approved with a cost of Rs 2.9 billion. The project envisages to upgrade and strengthening of existing sports infrastructure in the country by replacement/provision/upgradation of various sports facilities in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Narowal. The objectives of the project are to enhance skills of national and international players through provision of world class training facilities and holding international, regional and national level sports competitions for almost all indoor and outdoor games.
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