10 July 2004	Saturday	21 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, July 9: The Planning Commission has approved the National Drainage Programme (NDP). The programme is now to be submitted to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval.

Official sources told Dawn here on Friday that the Planning Commission approved the project after its cost was reduced from Rs37 billion to Rs29.3 billion and some other objections removed by Wapda, which is the sponsoring agency of the project.

However, the sponsoring agency was directed to submit a meaningful component wise statement giving financial and physical comparison along with cogent reasons for delaying the NDP.

The NDP was initiated in January 1998 without the formal approval of the competent authority like the Planning Commission and Ecnec. Wapda had reported 30 per cent and 35.68 per cent physical and financial progress respectively by May 2004.

Sources said that Wapda had requested the extension and promised to complete the project by December 2005. The World Bank, the ADB and the Japan Bank for International Construction (JBIC) had earlier promised roughly $700 million for the project, but now they were expected to extend $350 million only.

The World Bank had withdrawn $100 million from its proposed share and diverted it to some educational and flood mitigation programmes. The basic objective of the NDP is to restore sustainability of irrigated agriculture in an environmentally sound manner by minimising the drainage surplus and evacuation of the same from Indus Basin to the sea.

The project also includes rehabilitation/extension of existing and new surface drains (10,000km), installation of tile drains (250,000 acres) and lining of watercourse in saline area. The sponsoring agency was also asked to give a quantitative statement of various reasons for revision of PC-1.