RAWALPINDI: Mr M.M. Ahmad, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, said here this evening [Feb 26] that the Soviet Union had expressed its willingness to assist Pakistan in 13 additional projects not covered by the latest Rs 40 crore Soviet credit.

Talking to the Pressmen at the Chaklala airport prior to his departure for Karachi en route to Washington, he said that the Planning Commission had sent a list of those projects to “our agencies” to find out if they required assistance for those projects.

The 13 projects included inter alia installation of flour mills and bakeries.

Mr Ahmad declined to disclose the specific projects for which he will seek assistance during his stay in Washington. Mr Ahmad said that the Governors’ Conference had asked the West Pakistan Government to install two bakeries on an experimental basis in large towns of West Pakistan for the production of “nan”.

Mr Ahmad said that the President had told the Conference that the procedure of preparing “chapatti” was very time consuming, laborious and monotonous and that they should “relieve their women of this drudgery”.

It was, however, believed that Tarbela Dam would be one of the projects to be discussed.

Mr Ahmad also said that the offices of the Planning Commission will shift from Karachi to Rawalpindi by March 9. The shifting of the offices would start from March 1 and continue till March 9.

He said the revised Third Five-Year Plan would be released to the Press shortly.

[Meanwhile, as reported by Agencies in Bogra,] The work on the Rs 50 crore Teesta Barrage Project in Rangpur district has been started, the Chairman of the East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority said yesterday [Feb 25].

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017