CDWP approves eight development projects worth Rs11bn

ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP)

meeting, which was held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Planning
Commission Deputy Chairman/Planning, Development & Reform Minister Makhdoom
Khusro Bakhtiar, accorded approval to eight projects worth Rs11 billion and
recommended another eight projects worth Rs206 billion to the Executive
Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) for consideration.

Planning Secretary Zafar Hasan and senior

officials from the federal and provincial governments were also present in the
meeting.

Projects related to food & agriculture,

science and technology, information technology and climate change were
presented in the meeting.

The Ministry of Climate Change presented the ‘Ten

Billion Tree Tsunami’ project (phase-1) worth Rs125 billion, which was referred
to ECNEC for approval.

Speaking on the occasion, the planning minister

said that this was a flagship project of the incumbent government and its
implementation would mitigate the impact of climate change in the country.

He hoped that the institutions concerned would

select environment-friendly species for effective implementation of the programme.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission

presented the ‘Pakistan Research Reactor-3’ project worth Rs4.67 billion, which
was recommended to ECNEC for approval.

The second project related to science and

technology was ‘Establishment of the Post Graduate Center for Artificial
Intelligence in Agriculture and Health Sciences’ worth Rs527.676 million. The
project was approved by the CDWP.

As many as four energy-related projects were

presented in the CDWP meeting. The first project, ‘Interlinking of 220KV Dharki,
Rahim Yar Khan, Bhawalpur and Chistian Grid Stations for improvement of power
supply system in Southern Area’, worth Rs12.27 billion, was presented and
referred to ECNEC. The second project, ‘220KV Larkana New Substation’, worth Rs5.80
billion, was also referred to ECNEC. The third project, ‘Consultancy services
for feasibility study of solar water-pumping in Balochistan area’, worth Rs195.19
million, was approved by CDWP. The fourth energy-related project, ‘Evacuation
of Power from 220/132KV Grid Station Swabi’, worth Rs747.290 million, was also
approved by the CDWP.

Two projects related to SUPARCO were presented

in CDWP. The first project, ‘Pakistan Multi-Mission Satellite (PAKSAT-MMI)’,
worth Rs.34.66 billion, was referred to ECNEC whereas the second project, ‘Feasibility
and system definition study of Pakistan Optical Remote Sensing Satellite
(PRSS-02)’, worth Rs316 million, was accorded approval by the CDWP.

Six projects related to food and agriculture were

presented in the CDWP. The first project, ‘Promotion of Trout Farming in
Northern areas of Pakistan’, worth Rs2.35 billion, was given approval by CDWP.
The second project, ‘Pilot Shrimp Farming cluster Development’, worth Rs6.12 billion,
was referred to ECNEC. The third project, ‘Calf feedlot fattening (Prime
Minister Initiative)’, worth Rs2.38 billion was approved.

The fourth project, ‘Prime Minister Initiative

for Save the Calf’, worth Rs3.40 billion was referred to ECNEC, whereas the
fifth project, ‘Prime Minister Initiate for Backyard Poultry’, worth Rs1.67 billion,
was approved by the CDWP.

The sixth project, ‘Water Conservation in

Barani Areas of KP’, worth Rs14.25 billion, was referred to ECNEC.

The meeting also accorded approval to a project

titled ‘Provision of Security Infrastructure in Malakand, Swat and other
conflict areas of KP (Revised)’, worth Rs2.95 billion.