ISLAMABAD: CDWP approved 24 projects worth Rs 184.8 billion of which 10 projects worth Rs 169.6 Billion were referred to ECNEC. In addition to that one position paper was also approved at a cost of Rs 709 Million. Central Development Working Party meeting was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mr. Sartaj Aziz. The meeting was also attended by the senior official’s federal and provincial governments as well as autonomous bodies. The projects presented for approval include energy, transport & communication, water resources, physical planning & housing, science & technology, governance, health and mass media. In energy sector, CDWP recommended a project on evacuation of power from Suki Kinari, Kohala & Mahl Hydro Power Project in Northern Areas of worth Rs 73.6 billion to ECNEC. The main objective of the project is construction of 500kV transmission network to provide interconnection facilities for evacuation of power from the said Hydro Power Plants. Moreover, a project of feasibility study on developing mechanism for tariff based bidding of hydropower projects, review of feasibility studies for hydropower projects through local and foreign experts and capacity building of PPIB employees was approved with a cost of Rs. 64.3 million. The project will help enhance the capacity of PPIB. CDWP approved 12 projects in transport & communication out of which six were referred to ECNEC. The projects include up gradation/ renovation of Bahawalpur, Raiwaind, Gujranwala, Karachi, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Lahore and Rawalpindi railway stations (Rs 1.46 Billion), replacement of old and obsolete signal gear from Lodhran-Multan-Khanewal-Shahdara Bagh Main line Section of Pakistan Railways (Rs 18.6 Billion), Improvement & Widening of Chitral-Booni-Mastuj-Shandur Road (Rs 19.1 Billion), Construction/Rehabilitation of four bridges (Muzhgole Bridge, Osaik Bridge, Pokel Bridge and repairing of Churan Bridge) with an approach road and allied components (Rs 544.6 Million), construction of Ziarat Mor-Kach-Harnai Road and construction of Harnai Sanjavi Road (Rs 10.8 Billion), construction of a six lane overhead bridge at Imamia Colony railway crossing Shahdara (Rs 2.1 Billion), purchase of road clearance/earth moving machinery for prompt emergency response in AJK (Rs. 500 Million), extension/up gradation of Bannu Airport for A-320/B-737 Aircraft Operations (Rs. 715 Million), Improvement of Security at Karachi Int’l Airport, Multan Airport and Islamabad Airport (Rs 2.2 Billion), Land Acquisition for Rwp-Kahuta Road (Rs 5.3 Billion), Dualization of Rwp-Kahuta Road (Rs 10.1 Billion). Lastly, construction of the northern by pass of Dera Ghazi Khan was recommended to ECNEC (Rs 5.6 Billion). In physical planning & housing, construction of Model Custom House at Gwadar was approved at a cost of 1.5 Billion. Feasibility Study, Detailed Engineering Design & Preparation of Tender Documents of Murunj Dam Project was approved with a cost of Rs. 371.7 Million. Darawat Dam Project was also recommended to ECNEC, the project would be completed with a cost of Rs. 11.8 Billion. In Science and Technology section, two projects including one position paper was approved with the total cost of Rs. 3.3 Billion. The position paper tends on subsidy to scholars aboard under culture exchange program with a cost of Rs. 709 Million. The project for Development of National University of Medical Sciences, Islamabad was also approved with a cost of Rs. 2.6 Billion. In governance, Federal Program under Access to Justice Program worth Rs. 6.4 Billion was recommended to ECNEC. In health sector, three projects were approved out of which one was referred to ECNEC. The projects include establishment of a current cGMP complaint sera processing laboratory for capacity enhancement, biological production division, NIH Islamabad worth Rs. 751.1 million. A project titled establishment of centre for Neuro Sciences at PIMS, Islamabad was referred to ECNEC worth Rs. 7.4 Billion. In addition, civil works for cancer hospital Islamabad was approved with a cost of Rs. 1.99 Billion. Two projects were approved in mass media sector which include installation of 100KW Medium Wave Digital Transmitter at Mirpur for countering Cross-border Propaganda costing Rs. 143.8 million and rehabilitation of medium wave services for Muzaffarabad (AJK) with a cost of Rs. 160.6 million. Published in Daily Times, February 13th 2018.