ISLAMABAD: The Executive Commit­tee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) formally approved on Friday two major projects — the Gadani Power Park infrastructure development project and Rs25.5 billion for the first phase of the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme.

The two projects were cleared by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday and recommended for approval.

Chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the Ecnec meeting approved Rs146.6 billion for the construction of marine infrastructure for a 6600MW Power Park project at Gadani in Balochistan.

It envisages the development of related infrastructure facilities to establish 10 plants with a capacity of 660MW each, to be based on supercritical, pulverised coal platform technology.

The project includes two breakwaters, each measuring 3.5km and 1100 meter long-jetties and berths for receiving ships of sizes ranging from 40,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) to 210,000 DWT, including a floating jetty for anchoring small boats and tug boats, the provision of cooling water facilities and other related infrastructure.

The project is expected to be completed in 42 months.

CDWP okays projects worth Rs177bn

Ecnec also approved the Greater Karachi Water Supply scheme K-IV (Phase I)-260 MGD (million gallons per day), which will take water from the east bank of Keenjhar Lake in District Thatta to Karachi City, at a total cost of Rs25.5 billion, which will be shared 50/50 by the federal government and the government of Sindh.

The project has been designed with a total capacity of 650 MGD (million gallons per day) to meet the rising water demands of the 18.5 million inhabitants of Karachi.

The present water demand in Karachi is approximately 1,000 MGD, whereas the existing supply is 650 MGD, resulting in a shortfall of 350 MGD. The project will be completed in four years.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2014