The executive committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) met at the PM office on Thursday and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar approved various development projects worth Rs 440 billion.
Ishaq Dar said it had been observed that most of the projects were not completed on time and as a result of that the costs increase considerably. He said they should aim for a mechanism through which projects were delivered on time as there was a huge social and developmental cost attached to delays.
He said the planning development and reform division should monitor physical progress as well as the results that these projects envisaged to be achieved. He added that evaluation of PC-4s should become a regular exercise. He further added that they had to make improvements in the system for better results.
The ECNEC approved Karachi-Multan-Lahore Motorway (KLM) Project-Construction of Sukkur-Multan Section (387 km) with a rationalized cost of Rs 259.353 billion. Ten per cent cost of the project will come from PSDP and 90 per cent of total cost as credit financing through the government of China. The project will be completed by October 2017 and the executing agency is NHA. The project envisages construction of 387 km long, six lanes, Sukkur-Multan section of 1148 km Karachi-Lahore Motorway including construction of bridges, interchanges, nullahs etc.
The ECNEC also approved the project for Land Acquisition, Affected Properties Compensation and Relocation of Utilities for Construction of 959 km Karachi Lahore Motorway (KLM) with a rationalized cost of Rs 51 billion.
The ECNEC approved Raising of Balochistan Constabulary project at a rationalized cost of Rs 5.146 billion with FEC of Rs 200 million. The project aims to assist police and district administration in maintenance of law and order in Balochistan by recruiting 6,000 additional force and merging 4,000 reserve police personnel to make 10,000 strong force of Balochsitan Constabulary.
The ECNEC also approved flood emergency reconstruction project for bunds and canals (Revised-PC-I) at a cost of Rs 26.905 billion with financial aid of Rs 19.279 billion by the ADB and the local component by the government of Sindh. The project envisages strengthening of entire length of banks of river Indus in general and at Tori, SM Bund and FP Bund at Mancher Lake which was damaged by the unprecedented floods of 2010.
The ECNEC also considered and approved the project for evacuation of power from wind power plants at Jhimpir & Gharo wind clusters located in district Thatta and Jamshoro in Sindh with a modified cost of Rs 11.277 billion. The project will be completed in three years and it envisages evacuation of 1756MW of wing power from the two sites through construction of 220 KV and 132 KV double circuits’ transmission lines.
The ECNEC also approved acquisition of land for establishment of Free Trade Zone at Gwadar with a rationalized cost of Rs 6.499 billion. The project envisages acquisition of 2,281 acres of land for establishment of free trade zone at Gwadar Port, out of which 1,627 acres of land would be acquired from private land owners.
The meeting also approved the widening and improvement of 250 km of Kalat-Quetta-Chaman Road Section (KQC) of National Highway N-25 with a revised cost of Rs 19.140 billion with FEC of Rs 13.920 billion coming as a USAID grant.
The ECNEC also approved Hasanabdal (Burhan)-Havelian Express way (E-35, total length 59.1 km) with a rationalized cost of Rs 30.494 billion including FEC of Rs 7.592 billon.
The ECNEC approved establishment of information technology management sciences and telecommunication institutes at Islamabad at a revised cost of Rs 3.938 billion with FEC of Rs 613 million. The sponsoring agency is HEC and the executing agency is National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad.
The meeting principally approved the prime minister’s (national) programme for provision of laptops to talented students (HEC) with a rationalized cost of Rs 4.928 billion. It is envisaged that during this year 100,000 laptops would be distributed amongst the young and bright students studying in any public sector higher education institute across the country.
The ECNEC further approved rehabilitation and upgradation of Trimmu Barrage and Panjnad Headwork’s (ADB assisted) with a rationalized cost of Rs 16.8 billion including ADB loan of Rs 14.9 billion.
The meeting considered and approved dualization and improvement of 64 km long Mandra-Chakwal Raod project with a revised cost of Rs 4.671 billion. The project envisages construction of dual way 2-lanes carriageway between Mandra and Chakwal to facilitate heavy traffic of the section.
