ISLAMABAD, May 3: The Executive Committee of National Economic Council here on Friday approved five development projects worth Rs12.3 billion.

These projects relate to physical housing and town planning, electricity generation, community infrastructure, crop maximization and installation of telemetry system.

The Ecnec decision would generate economic activity, create employment, increase agriculture productivity, provide housing and improve standard of living of the people of rural areas.

In order to monitor usage of irrigation water, minimize system losses and optimize crop production, the Ecnec approved installation of telemetry system for Indus Basin Irrigation System costing Rs450 million, with a foreign exchange component of Rs408 million.

The meeting, presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, also decided that the system would be installed by Wapda within 12 months, and would be maintained and operated by the Indus River System Authority to ensure equitable water distribution.

The system would be installed on dams, barrages, headworks, canals and other irrigation sites to be identified by the provinces.

The Ecnec okayed revised proposal for Khyber-12 (Sector D-12) project costing Rs2.6 billion for the development of 3,445 plots in various categories over 250 acres. The Ecnec directed allotment of plots through transparent computer balloting in various categories. The development cost of the plots would be shared by the allottees.

The meeting further directed the CDA to account for the plots already allotted in the sector to ensure transparency.

The meeting granted ex-post facto approval to the installation of 200 megawatt combined-cycle steam turbo generator at Kot Addu at the revised cost of Rs7.5 billion, involving a foreign exchange component of Rs4.6 billion.

The meeting, however, noted that the Planning Commission should develop a monitoring mechanism to review progress of approved projects to avoid cost escalation and to keep the projects within approved estimates and timetables.

To increase productivity by 30 to 40 per cent over benchmark productivity level, the Ecnec meeting gave the green light to Rs500 million crop maximisation project to be implemented over a period of 40 months (March 2002 to June 2005). The project will include 14 districts covering 104 villages. It would cover 49 villages in Punjab, 28 in Sindh, 13 in the NWFP and 14 in Balochistan. For the AJK, an amount of Rs10 million has been provided under the programme.

To be implemented on farmers’ participatory approach basis, it would cover 102,267 acres. The project would supplement the country’s ongoing efforts at increasing food production through enhancing crop productivity; ensure food security; alleviate poverty in rural areas through improving income of small farmers, build mechanism for sustaining productivity enhancement and food security programme and train farmers and field staff for using new technology in agriculture. The areas which would benefit from the project include villages of Muzaffargarh, Rahimyar Khan, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sanghar, Larkana, Bannu, D.I.Khan, Naseerabad, Loralai and parts of the AJK.

The Ecnec approved Rs1.7 billion community-driven infrastructure service programme for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir, involving a $20 million contribution of International Development Association. The project aims at improving peoples’ living condition and providing them with sustainable access to basic infrastructure, health and sanitation facilities.

The multi-sectoral project has been designed as part of a comprehensive poverty alleviation effort in the AJK. The project, to be completed in 48 months, would be monitored by a project director, and operated and maintained by the participating community.