ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Tuesday cleared seven projects with a total estimated cost of Rs41.34 billion.

The meeting, presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, approved six projects with a combined cost of Rs16.111bn and cleared a project worth Rs25.226bn for approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).

The meeting was also attended by officials of various federal ministries and Planning Commission. Representatives of provincial governments participated via video link.

Under the revised financial rules, CDWP is empowered to itself approve projects costing no more than Rs10bn while projects of higher estimated costs are approved by Ecnec once the CDWP clears them on technical grounds.

The projects taken up by the CDWP relate to health, higher education, industries and production and information technology sectors.

In the health sector, two projects were presented in the meeting. ‘Strengthening Civil Registration & Vital Statistics System’ worth Rs201.92m was approved in the meeting. The ‘Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project’ worth Rs5.62bn was also approved.

The meeting also took up two projects related to higher education. The ‘PhD Scholarship under US- Pakistan Knowledge Corridor’ worth Rs25.226bn was referred to Ecnec for approval because of estimated cost higher than the CDWP’s financial powers. The programme is expected to develop collaboration between renowned US and Pakistani institutions for transfer of new research techniques focused on Pakistan’s needs.

The second higher education project ‘Jalozai Campus of UET Peshawar’ worth Rs6.535bn was also approved in the meeting.

Two projects related to Information Technology worth about Rs1.470bn were also cleared in the meeting.

The first project ‘E-Office Replication at Divisions of the Federal Government’ worth Rs689.65m aims at replacing e-office and e-filling system in all ministries and divisions for achieving the goal of internal efficiency and effectiveness.

A second project titled ‘Feasibility and System Definition Study (FSDS) of Pakistan Satellite Navigation Programme (PSNP)’ with a cost of Rs780m was also approved in the meeting.

An Industries and Commerce project ‘Establishment of Hub Special Economic Zone’ worth Rs2.3bn was given a go ahead.

The meeting also cleared seven concept clearance projects to avail about $1.7bn worth of foreign loans. Of these, two papers would lead to preparation of projects to about $288m credit from the World Bank including $100m for Solid Waste Emergency Efficiency Programme and $188m Hydromet & Ecosystem Restoration Services project.

The concept papers also pertained to $9m Korean assistance to set up a Nutrition Centre to improve child and community nutrition. Others included $75m project for pension reforms, $300m for financial markets development, $500m for resilient institutions for sustainable economy and $500m project for securing human investments to foster transformation.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2020