ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) of the Planning Commission on Thursday approved eight projects to the tune of Rs11 billion. It further recommended another eight projects worth Rs206bn to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for consideration.

Minister for Planning and Development, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar chaired the CDWP meeting. As many as six projects of Prime Minister’s National Agricultural Emergency Programme were presented to the CDWP for consideration. However, the party approved three projects while referring the remaining three to Ecnec for approval.

The approved projects include promotion of trout farming in the Northern Areas at a cost Rs2,355.12 million; calf-fattening project costing Rs2,385.139m; and backyard poultry project at a cost of Rs1,671.471m.

The projects referred to the Ecnec include pilot shrimp farming development project worth Rs6124.25m; ‘save the calf project at a cost of Rs3,401.50m; and a scheme for water conservation in barani areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa worth Rs1,4258.448m.

The first phase of the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project, which the Ministry of Climate Change estimated at Rs125bn, was referred to the Ecnec.

In the energy sector, four projects were presented for approval. Of these, two were approved which include evacuation of power from 220/132kv grid station in Swabi, costing Rs747.290m; and the consultancy services for carrying out feasibility study of solar water pumping in Balochistan worth Rs195.19m.

The CDWP referred the inter-linking of 220kv Daharki, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur and Chishtian grid stations for improvement of power supply system in southern area at a cost of Rs1,2273.39m to the Ecnec.

The ‘Pakistan Research Reactor-III’ project costing Rs4,671.050m – presented by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission – was recommended to Ecnec.

In the science and technology arena, the establishment of the Post-Graduate Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and Health Sciences worth Rs527.676m was approved by the CDWP.

The feasibility and system definition study of Pakistan Optical Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS-02) presented by SUPARCO and estimated to cost Rs316 million was approved, while CDWP referred SUPARCO’s second project of ‘Pakistan Multi-Mission Satellite’ project costing Rs34667.89m to Ecnec for consideration.

CDWP also gave approval to the revised project, ‘provision of security infrastructure in Malakand, Swat and other conflict areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa worth Rs2954.12m.

Bakhtyar said the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Project is a flagship project of the PTI government and shows the commitment to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country.

He hoped that the institutions concerned will select environment-friendly species for effective implementation of the programme. The targets of the programme will also contribute towards soil conservation, improve water storage capacity and recharge of the aquifer of the areas.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2019