ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday approved provision of a coal conveyor system from Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT) to railway network at Port Qasim at a cost of Rs15.87bn, and recommended it to the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval.

The project envisages construction of a coal conveying system for transportation of coal from PIBT coal terminal to railway siding and loading of coal onto railway wagons for onward transportation to the proposed coal-fired power plants.

Five more projects worth Rs27.741bn were also approved, involving foreign exchange component of Rs2.24bn. The meeting also accorded approval to concept clearance of two projects.

The establishment of Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) University was approved at a cost of Rs9.78bn, including foreign exchange component of Rs2bn. It would be developed as “university of the 21st century” to compete with top international universities of the world.

Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal while approving the project during CDWP meeting directed that the university be established in two phases.

The first phase would be completed by September 2017 to start academic activities.

The CDWP also approved the “enhancing IT export through industry support programme” worth Rs265.50 million.

The meeting approved replacement of GSM network project in Azad and Jammu Kashmir at a cost of Rs1,450m.

A software and training component project was approved at a cost of Rs91m to further strengthen the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) capability for design assessment and analysis to ensure safety of nuclear power plants.

The CDWP also approved the concept clearance to establishment of Pakistan-Korea Hi-Tech Agriculture Innovation Centre/Technology Park at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and ‘Agriculture and Socio-Economic Development’ in Pothwar region.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2016