ECNEC approves Rs40bn for development of poor districts

January 05, 2023 (MLN): The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Wednesday approved Special Development Initiatives for Backward/Poor Districts in the country at a cost of Rs. 40 billion on 50:50 basis between Federal and provincial governments, a press release issued by Finance Division on Wednesday showed.

The project aims to support interventions to bring noticeable change in social and economic fabric of these districts.

A meeting of ECNEC was chaired by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday.

The ECNEC approved Prime Minister’s Youth Laptop Scheme-HEC(Phase-III) at a cost of Rs10.83bn in order to provide an opportunity to young and talented students studying in public sector higher education institutes across the country including AJK and GB.

Under the envisaged Phase-III project, 100K laptops would be distributed among meritorious students in two years.

The committee also approved another summary regarding construction of Northern Section of Ring Road (Missing Link) from Warsak Road to Nasir Bagh Road- project at the reduced cost of Rs17,139.01 million without any FEC, fully funded by government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

This project envisages construction of 6 lane Northern section of Peshawar Ring Road from Warsak road to Nasir Bagh Road with total length of 7.8 Kms. There will be 2 lane service road on each side of the Ring Road. 

Another National Development Internship Programme is approved, it is in line with the vision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to mainstream the youth and involve them in national development.

The programme aims to enhance the capacity of young Pakistanis in their relevant educational areas and enhance their practical and technical skills and provide opportunity to introduce fresh ideas in the development sector of Pakistan.

The following programme expenditure will be met from the development projects being implemented under PSDP.  

During the meeting, ECNEC allowed 15% of procurement for one of the four components of the Indus Highway (N-55) additional carriage Project in US dollars as per Asian Development Bank (ADB) guidelines.

The project was already approved by the ECNEC on October 01,2022 at cost of Rs44.70bn with ADB share of Rs40.23bn ($241.27mn).

The ECNEC also considered and approved provincial project named “Construction of Gravity Flow Water Supply Scheme Mansehra” at a cost of Rs18.58bn, to be executed by government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The project aims at provision of gravity flow potable water supply system for Mansehra city to fulfil the present and future needs up to 2040. The project on its completion will provide the required potable water supply facilities to the population of 201,249 persons for the designed period.       

The ECNEC approved PC-1 of post-Flood 2022 Reconstruction Plan: Resilience, Enhancement and Livelihood Diversification in Baluchistan, project at a total cost of Rs88bn ($400mn) funded by the World Bank.

Federal Government and government of Baluchistan through Federal PMU and Project Implementation Unit will execute the project to support, finance and incentivize Post-Flood reconstruction, resilience enhancement and livelihood diversification initiatives with focus on flood-ravaged and resource constrained province of Baluchistan.

The ECNEC approved Overseas Scholarship for MS/M.Phil leading to Ph.D in selected fields (Phase-III) at a cost of Rs22.21bn with FEC Rs21.40bn to give chances to young Pakistani scholars to pursue higher education at some of the world’s leading universities.

A project regarding Higher Education Opportunities for students of Balochistan & erstwhile FATA (Phase-III) is approved in meeting at a cost of Rs8.66bn with aim to provide equal education opportunities to the talented students of the disadvantaged areas to bring them at par with developed and developing areas of the country creating a core of talented and qualified manpower.

The committee also approved Sindh Human Capital Investment: 1000 days-Integrated Health and Population programme at a total cost of Rs61.60bn including foreign funds of Rs55bn by the World Bank to improve utilization and quality of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health and nutrition services, and women economic empowerment through skill development and micro financing to a target population of 9.7mn in selected districts of Sindh province.

The ECNEC also approved Flood Response Emergency Housing Project at rationalized cost of Rs160bn including World Bank loan of $500mn to support the flood affected people in all districts of Sindh in the climate resilient reconstruction & repairs of their houses and helping them overcome the misery and trouble inflicted upon them during the recent rain disaster.

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