Islamabad-The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has Wednesday in principle approved the position paper for Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV) and allowed Sindh government to place it before the ECNEC for changing the sponsoring and executing agencies of the project from province to federal government.
The CDWP that met with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan in chair approved one project worth Rs. 7.25 Billion and approved five position Papers worth Rs21.10 Billion and referred two position Papers worth Rs. 37.23 billion to ECNEC for further approval. Projects related to Energy, Physical Planning and Housing, Science & Technology and Transport & Communications were presented in the meeting. The CDWP cleared in principle position paper related to Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV) project cost Rs25.551 billion which is equally shared between the Federal and Provincial governments, official source told The Nation. The meeting was informed that 41 per cent physical progress and 47 per cent financial progress of the project have been achieved. The project envisages to supply 260 million gallons per day of water to Karachi in Phase-I. The Project was earlier being undertaken by the Sindh government, however, the federal government, under an arrangement with the Provincial Government has now taken up implementation of the project as part of the Karachi Transformation plan and directed WAPDA to immediately take over the implementation responsibilities. It was also decided that Government of Sindh will submit Position Paper for implementation of the K-IV Project under new arrangements envisaged in the Karachi Transformation Plan for Consideration by the CDWP and Position Paper will include physical and financial progress, the status of clearance of liabilities and availability of land.
Similarly, it was also agreed that the Ministry of Water Resources will also submit Concept Paper for implementation of the project under new arrangements envisaged in the Karachi Transformation Plan for consideration by the CDWP and ECNEC. Concept Paper will include implementation framework; implementation requirements and timelines; besides all other. After approval, a consultant will be hired to evaluate upon of open channel and pipe-based system and submit its recommendations within twelve (12) weeks.
The CDWP also approved two Position Papers related to the Energy sector. The first approved project namely “220KV Dhabeji Substation for Provision of electricity for Dhabeji Special Economic Zone (DSEZ)” worth Rs. 4195.10 million. This project will facilitate the electrification of Dhabeji SEZ, construction of 220 kV GIS substation at Dhabeji SEZ with associated transmission line has been planned to supply the ultimate load of 250 MW Dhabeji SEZ. Second, approved Position Paper was titled “34.5 MW Harpo Hydropower Project District Sakrdu” worth Rs9,522.801 million.
The main objective of the project is to provide adequate facilities for the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy keeping in view the future requirements in the Baltistan region. Projects related to Physical Planning & Housing presented in the meeting namely “Improvement of Water Treatment Plant and Water Distribution System in Faisalabad (Construction of Distribution Center, rehabilitation of Old Jhai Khanuana water Treatment Plant (JICA Grant-in-Aid) Phase-1Faisalabad worth Rs7,250 million also approved in the meeting.
First Position Paper namely “Construction of Judicial and Administration Complex in Mauve area” worth Rs537.873 million was approved in the meeting. A Position Paper related to Science & Technology presented in the meeting namely “Jalozai Campus of University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar” worth Rs6535.320 million also approved by CDWP. Three Position papers related to Transport & Communications presented in the meeting namely “Dualization & improvement of Old Bannu Road” worth Rs. 17,230 million referred to ECNEC. Second titled “Land acquisition for Swat Motorway Phase –II” worth Rs. 20,000 million also referred to ECNEC and “Accelerated Development Plan for Southern Balochistan” worth Rs. 313 million approved by the CDWP. CDWP also discussed two Concept Clearance proposals namely “Sindh Human Capital Project Sindh 100 Days plus Programme” worth Rs2,479.5 million and “Crises Resilient Social Protection” worth Rs128.240 million.