Daily Times

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday accorded approval to eight projects worth Rs 11 billion and recommended eight projects worth Rs 206 billion to ECNEC for consideration.

The CDWP meeting was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chairman Planning Commission/Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar. Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan, senior officials from 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.

Ministry of Climate Change presented 10 billion Tree Tsunami project (phase-1) worth Rs.125 billion which was referred to ECNEC for approval. Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Planning Khusru Bakhtyar said that this is a flagship project of the incumbent government and the government is committed to its implementation to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country. He hoped that the institutions concerned will select environment friendly species for effective implementation of the program. The targets of the program will also contribute towards soil conservation, improve water storage capacity and recharge of the aquifer of the areas.

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission presented a project “Pakistan Research Reactor-3” worth Rs.4671.050 million which was recommended to ECNEC. The second project related to science and technology titled “Establishment of the Post Graduate Center for Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and Health Sciences” worth Rs 527.676 million was approved in CDWP.

Four Energy related projects were presented in CDWP. The first project “Interlinking of 220 KV Dharki, Rahim Yar Khan, Bhawalpur amd Chistian Grid Stations for improvement of power supply system in Southern Area” worth Rs.12273.39 million was presented and referred to ECNEC. The second project “220 KV Larkana New Substation” worth Rs. 5804.95 was also referred to ECNEC. The third project Titled “Consultancy Services for Feasibility study of solar water pumping in Baluchistan area” worth Rs 195.19 million was approved by CDWP. The fourth energy related project “Evacuation of Power from 220/132 KV Grid Station Swabi” worth Rs.747.290 million was also approved in CDWP.

Two projects related to SUPARCO were presented in CDWP. The first Project “Pakistan Multi-Mission Satellite (PAKSAT-MMI) Project” worth Rs.34667.89 was referred to ECNEC whereas the second project “Feasibility and system definition study of Pakistan Optical Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS-02) worth Rs.316 million was accorded approval by CDWP.

Six projects related to Food and Agriculture were presented in CDWP. The first Project “Promotion of Trout Farming in Northern areas of Pakistan” worth Rs. 2355.12 million was given approval by CDWP. The second project “Pilot Shrimp Farming cluster Development project” worth Rs. 6124.25 million was referred to ECNEC. The third project “Calf feedlot fattening (Prime Minister Initiative) worth Rs.2385.139 million was approved. The fourth project “Prime Minister Initiative for Save the Calf” worth Rs. 3401.50 was referred to ECNEC whereas the fifth project “Prime Minister Initiate for Backyard Poultry” worth Rs. 1671.471 million was approved by CDWP. The sixth project related to Agriculture & Food titled “Water Conservation in Barani Areas of KP” worth Rs. 14258.448 million was also referred to ECNEC.

CDWP also accorded approval to a project titled “Provision of Security Infrastructure in Malakand, Swat and other conflict areas of KP (Revised)” worth Rs. 2954.12 million.