ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Tuesday cleared four development projects at an estimated cost of Rs36.22 billion in the areas of water resources, housing and communications in Balochistan to secure much-delayed international financial assistance from multilateral lenders committed under Geneva pledges for post-flood rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The meeting of the CDWP was presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Jehanzeb Khan to take up only post-flood projects involving donor pledges and approved one project on its own and recommended three others to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval. All four pertained to Balochistan and are funded by the World Bank.

All four projects pertained to post-flood reconstruction and rehabilitation initiatives in Balochistan.

These included “Res­ilience Enhancement and Livelihood Diver­sification in Balochistan (Public Health Engi­neering/Water Supply Infrastructure Sector, with a total cost of Rs2.8bn, Resilience Enhan­cement and Liveli­hood Divers­ification in Balochistan (Road Infrastructure), worth Rs13.81bn, Resilience Enhancement and Livelihood Diversification in Balochistan (Irrigation Infrastructure) worth Rs8.25bn and Livelihood Interventions for integrated Flood Resilience and Adaptation Program (IFRAP) with the total cost of Rs11.36bn.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023