ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: The Central Development Working Party on Monday cleared 31 development projects which would cost Rs248 billion, including a Rs22 billion thermal power project and a Rs455 million scheme to replace the obsolete air-traffic control system.
Planning Commission spokesman Asif Sheikh told reporters that a meeting presided over by deputy chairman Dr Akram Sheikh had approved 16 projects to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs4.5 billion and recommended 15 projects of Rs243.8 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for approval.
Under the rules, the CDWP can approve projects of up to Rs500 million cost and is required to technically examine schemes costing over Rs500 million and recommend them to Ecnec for approval.
An important aspect of the CDWP meeting was the approval of a Rs165 billion programme in the higher education sector, under which four universities of engineering and technology will be set up in collaboration with Austria, Germany, China and Italy – one each in Karachi and Islamabad and two in Lahore. The project cost includes a foreign exchange component of Rs55 billion.
Asif Sheikh said the government would not get foreign financial assistance in establishing the universities, but the foreign exchange component would cover the cost of foreign teaching staff for the universities. He said the number of scholarships for students from occupied Kashmir had been increased from 100 to 200.
The meeting, he said, also cleared concept papers for reconstruction of berths at the Karachi port at a cost of Rs6 billion. The Karachi Port Trust expects the World Bank to provide $100 million in loan for the project. The PC-I of the scheme would be submitted later, he added.
He said the overall foreign exchange component of 31 projects had been estimated at Rs86.3 billion. In three earlier meetings held this year, the CDWP had cleared 114 projects of Rs205.6 billion.
He said 29 projects costing Rs242 billion would be financed by the federal government and the remaining two by the provinces. The 31 projects include five whose estimated cost was increased by about 25 per cent to Rs12 billion from the originally approved cost of Rs9 billion.
The meeting approved a Rs455 million project to replace the ATM/ATC System with modern-day radar systems. The project, Civil Aviation Authority Radar Up-gradation and Allied Systems, which includes a foreign exchange component of Rs366 million, is part of restructuring being undertaken in view of a few aircraft accidents over a couple of years due to the obsolete air-traffic management system.
The project would be completed in one year after the signing of the agreement. Six firms from the US, China and Europe have shown interest in the project and bids will open on Dec 17.
In the infrastructure sector, 13 schemes of Rs75 billion, with a foreign exchange component of Rs30 billion, were approved. Another 13 projects worth Rs172.1 billion with a foreign exchange component of Rs56.2 billion were approved in the social sector. Five projects worth Rs1.2 billion were approved in other sectors.
Asif Sheikh said 17 projects would be implemented all over the country. Five projects were approved for Punjab, two each for Sindh and Balochistan and one for the NWFP.
Of the five projects for Punjab, the Punjab Irrigation System Improvement Project costing Rs6.6 billion, will be financed by the provincial government. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation will provide 88 per cent funding for the scheme. Of the Balochistan projects, construction of roads in coastal areas will be financed with an Omani grant to the provincial government. The cost of the scheme is Rs934 million.
Four projects of Rs25.94 billion were approved in the energy sector, including a project of 450-500MW combined cycle power plant at Nadipur, near Daska. The Rs22.33 billion project will be completed in five years and will be funded by Wapda from its own resources.
Exploration of uranium resources in Dera Ghazi Khan costing Rs856.5 million and a uranium mining project of Rs2.386 billion at Taunsa were other important projects in the energy sector.
In the transport and communication sector, eight projects were approved which will cost Rs42.45 billion. Some of the projects are part of the umbrella programme of the National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme.
