December 11, 2023 (MLN): The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Monday considered and approved nine projects worth Rs371.85 billion in various sectors, said a press release issued by the Finance Division on the same day.

The ECNEC considered and approved Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Security Support Project at a total cost of Rs25.098 billion.

The project has been conceived to address the climate vulnerabilities, improve the food security and livelihood of rural farm households and address the mid-and long-term needs for institutional capacity enhancement in the most flood-damaged districts of the KP province.

The project is proposed for a tenure of 05 years and will be implemented in 07 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Viz-A-Viz; Upper Dir, Swat, Malakand, Charsadda, Peshawar, Nowshera and D.I Khan

The council considered and approved a project titled “Sindh School Rehabilitation Project under Flood Restoration Program (ADB Emergency Assisted) at a total cost of Rs86.081bn with Provincial Government share Rs7.563bn and ADB Loan amounting to Rs78,518bn.

In Sindh, five districts namely Dadu, Khairpur Mirs, Larkana, Nausharu Feroze & Qambar Shahdadkot were severely affected by rain/flood. 482 schools were fully damaged whereas 1125 schools were partially damaged. Therefore 1607 schools would be rehabilitated through this project.

The ECNEC also considered and approved a project of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Education Component: Refugees & Host communities Regional Sub Windows SH Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Capital Investment Project (KP-HCIP) at a total cost of Rs32.835bn.

The project will cover educational infrastructure rehabilitation, reconstruction of 1165 damaged schools in 13 districts of KP.

A project titled: “Prime Minister's Laptop Scheme” implemented through Higher Education commission (HEC) at a total cost of Rs16.801bn was approved

A project of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Capital Investment Project (KP-HCIP) (Health Component) at a total cost of Rs24.225bn was also greenlighted.

The project aims to improve availability, utilization and quality of primary care health services through provision of essential medicines, family planning commodities, hospital waste management and outsourcing of lab/ pharmaceutical / janitorial services for host communities and refugees

The ECNEC reviewed and approved a project on Women Inclusive Finance at a total cost of Rs31.413bn.

The project aims to reduce constraints on Pakistani women in accessing credit; this project provides Credit Line Facility (CLF) so that more money is available for lending for women.

The council further agreed to a project of Ministry of Railways, titled Thar Coal Railway Connectivity' with existing Railway Network including Last Mile Connectivity with Port Qasim at the total rationalized cost of Rs53.727bnwith Local FEC of Rs8.183bn, on 50:50 basis ratio between the Federal Government and Government of Sindh.

The project of Ministry of Communications; Government of Pakistan titled Peshawar Northern Bypass Project (PNBP) was approved at a total cost of Rs27.052bn without FEC.

The project envisages construction of 32.20 km, 4-lane bypass with service roads on either side, on the northern side of Peshawar city.

The bypass will be constructed along a new alignment passing through agricultural land with allied facilities. Land measuring approximately 3,430 kanal will be acquired for the requirement of the 55m Right of Way (ROW).

The council also considered the Greater Thal Canal Project (Phase-II) at a total cost of Rs38.372bn.

However, it was deferred with direction to Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and Ministry of Water to develop an appropriate summary of status of consultation among provinces and implementation of past decisions of ECNEC on the matter. 

Lastly, it permitted the Sindh Barrage Improvement Project (Phase-II) submitted by Ministry of Water Resources.

As per project rehabilitation and modernization of Sukkur Barrage and remaining works for rehabilitation and Modernization of Guddu Barrage will take place at a total cost of Rs74.618bn.

The caretaker Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue & Economic Affairs Dr. Shamshad Akhtar chaired the meeting of the ECNEC with other government officials.

Copyright Mettis Link News

Posted on: 2023-12-11T23:24:25+05:00