ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Monday approved a total of nine development projects worth about Rs367 billion mainly to ensure international development assistance.

The meeting was presided over by Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar and attended by Sami Saeed and Shahid Ashraf Tarar, the ministers for Planning and Comm­unications respectively. However, Ecnec deferred Rs38.4bn worth of the Greater Thal Canal Project for lack of consultations with the provinces.

Ecnec approved a Rs20.098bn Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Security Support Project. The Asian Development Bank has already approved last week a $80m concessional loan for the project as part of its $1.5bn pledge of support for Pakistan’s recovery from the 2022 floods.

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 KP.

The project is proposed for implementation over five years and will be implemented in seven districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa namely Upper Dir, Swat, Malakand, Charsadda, Peshawar, Nowshera and D.I Khan.

The meeting also approved a Rs86.08bn Sindh School Rehabilitation Project under the Flood Restoration Programme which is also funded by the ADB with over $275m emergency financing. The Sindh government’s contribution to the project stands at Rs7.562bn compared to Rs78.52bn estimated ADB loan.

Five districts of Sindh — Dadu, Khairpur Mirs, Larkana, Nausharu Feroze and Qambar Shahdadkot — were severely affected by rains and flood last year, fully damaging 482 schools and partially damaging 1,125 others. Therefore 1,607 schools would be rehabilitated through this project.

Ecnec also approved a Rs32.835bn worth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Education Component: Refugees and Host Communities Regional Sub Windows Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Capital Investment Project (KP-HCIP). The project will cover educational infrastructure rehabilitation and reconstruction of 1,165 damaged schools in 13 districts of KP. This project is also foreign-funded.

It also approved a Rs16.8bn Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme which would be implemented through the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The forum also approved another Rs24.225bn health component of the KP-HCIP. The project aims to improve the availability, utilisation and quality of primary care health services through the provision of essential medicines, family planning commodities, hospital waste management and outsourcing of labs, pharmaceutical and janitorial services for host communities and refugees.

Ecnec also approved a Rs31.413bn project for Women Inclusive Finance. The project, also supported by the ADB, aims to reduce constraints on Pakistani women in accessing credit.

The meeting also approved a project of the Ministry of Railways, titled Thar Coal Railway Connectivity’ with the existing Railway Network including Last Mile Connectivity with Port Qasim at a total rationalised cost of Rs53.73bn.

The meeting also approved the Peshawar Northern Bypass Project (PNBP) at a cost of Rs27.051bn without any foreign exchange component. The project envisages the construction of 32.20km, 4-lane bypass with service roads on either side, on the northern side of Peshawar city.

Ecnec also approved Rs74.62bn Sindh Barrage Improvement Project (Phase-II) for rehabilitation and modernisation of Sukkur Barrage and remaining works for rehabilitation and modernisation of Guddu Barrage.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023