Meeting for approval today: ECNEC may okay Rs 311.5bn uplift projects

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Meeting for approval today: ECNEC may okay Rs 311.5bn uplift projects

By Ijaz Kakakhel

ISLAMABAD: The revised agenda of Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) is expected to approve 42 developmental projects of national importance worth Rs 311.533 billion including Rs 25.725 billion as Foreign Exchange Component (FEC) today (Thursday), reveals the revised ECNEC agenda obtained by Daily Times on Wednesday.

The previous agenda of the ECNEC consisted of 39 development projects worth Rs 262.456 billion including Rs 16 billion as FEC. However, in the revised agenda some new projects were included.

The revised agenda also included water and power related projects, which are of national importance, namely Diamer-Bhasha Dam – acquisition of land and resettlement project worth Rs 116.607 billion.

The meeting to be presided by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today (Nov 6) will review the economic situation and challenges being faced by the country. All the chief ministers, provincial finance ministers and provincial planning and development ministers are likely to attend the meeting.

The revised ECNEC revealed that the Transport and Communication sector consisted of 16 projects worth Rs 47.365 billion with Rs 7.012 billion as FEC. Water Resources consist of five projects worth Rs 32.921 billion including Rs 3.078 billion as FEC.

The Energy sector consists of three projects worth Rs 118.701 billion including Rs 228.380 million as FEC, the Physical Planning and Housing (PP&H) has six projects worth Rs 70.618 billion including Rs 4 billion as FEC.

The Heath sector consists of two developmental projects worth Rs 27.191 billion including Rs 1.365 billion as FEC. The Environment sector has two projects worth Rs 2.232 billion including Rs 973 million as FEC. The Devolution and Area Development sector consists of two projects worth Rs 5.672 billion including Rs 5.275 billion as FEC.

The Education sector consists of a single project worth Rs 657.631 million including Rs 626.888 million as FEC. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) sector also has two projects worth Rs 2.006 billion. Social Welfare sector has only one project worth Rs 560 million, Culture, Sports and Tourism sector has a single project worth Rs 2.519 billion including Rs 2.120 billion as FEC. Industry and Commerce sector has one project worth Rs 1.085 billion including Rs 486.018 million as FEC. The Diamer-Basha Dam is a project of national importance keeping in view the ongoing water and power shortage in the country. The 272-metre high dam will be the highest roller compacted concrete (RCC) dam in the world with more than 100-kilometre long reservoirs. Live storage capacity of the reservoir will be 6.4 MAF and will generate 4,500 MW electricity.

The dam will contribute more than 18,000 giga watt-hours of electricity annually. This will also help the government to cope with the increasing demand of water. The project will also be an important step in increasing the ratio of low-cost hydel power in the national grid.

The pre-qualification process of the contractors has already been initiated and is likely to be completed soon. The construction on the project will commence next year following International Competitive Bidding (ICB).

Some of the important projects are the up-gradation of Karakuram Highway of Bhasha-Diamer Dam Project (Manshera to proposed Dam Site) worth Rs 12.058 billion, Revamping/Rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage system in Sindh worth Rs 18.516 billion, National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care worth Rs 26.533 billion including Rs 1.365 billion, Sindh Cities Improvement Programme worth Rs 40.400 billion and many others.

The meeting also expected to approve a project namely, Extension of Motorway (M-4) from Shamkot to Multan with a distance of 39 km (Kot Rab Nawaz) and total cost of Rs 8.330 billion.

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