June 17, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1424

ISLAMABAD, June 16: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) is meeting here on June 28 to approve 40 development projects worth about Rs60 billion.

Official sources said here on Monday that the meeting to be chaired by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz would discuss and approve 40 development projects, which had been submitted for approval by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP).

Most of the projects to be approved by the ECNEC were in health, education, physical planning, water, energy and infrastructure sectors. Some of the new projects to be undertaken in Balochistan had also been included on the directive of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

Sources said new instructions have been issued by the PM Secretariat to the Finance Division to make sure that funds were released to the ministries and divisions in time during 2003-04 so that there was no cost overrun of the development projects as had been witnessed in the past.

Moreover, the Finance Division was asked to make sure that there was a strict monitoring of the projects to avoid kickbacks and other financial irregularities.