ISLAMABAD: Amid increasing international pressure because of failure of successive governments to make the country polio free, a meeting of Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved on Friday Rs33 billion for an emergency plan to eradicate the crippling disease.

The meeting which was presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also approved Rs27.8 billion for a hydropower project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The polio eradication plan will cover the entire country, including Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Under the emergency programme, United Nation’s Children Fund (Unicef) will procure the oral polio vaccine and undertake social mobilisation and communication campaigns at district and sub-district levels on behalf of provincial and district governments.

Likewise, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will conduct operational activities and supplementary immunisation activities on behalf of provincial and district governments.

While approving the project, Mr Dar put on record that financing health services was a provincial subject but the federal government felt its responsibility to arrange funds for the project through an agreement with lenders for such a crucial project.

He said it was unfortunate that Pakistan was still facing the challenges of eradicating polio. But he hoped that the menace would soon be eradicated.

The minister said the Ecnec meeting had been convened especially to approve the polio eradication plan because making Pakistan a polio-free country had become a national priority.

The project has a capital cost of $326.838 million. The Islamic Development Bank will provide a loan of $227 million and the World Bank $23.6 million. Japan’s International Cooperation Agency will provide a grant of $ 8.031 million and another grant of $68.207 million will be extended by Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation. Interest on the loans will be paid by Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation.

Under an agreement with the lending agencies, the loans will be converted into grant if Pakistan succeeds in eradicating polio.

The meeting also approved a summary of the Planning and Development Ministry for construction of Rs27.8 billion Keyal Khwar Hydropower Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with an estimated generation capacity of 128MW.

The project will be completed by Wapda in four years. It will be funded through the Public Sector Development Programme and will involve a foreign exchange component of Rs10.99 billion. The project will be connected with the national grid by a 2.8-kilometre long, 132 KV double circuit transmission line to be terminated at the Duber Khawar Hydropower Project switchyard.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2014