Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue & Economic Affairs Dr. Shamshad Akhtar chaired the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), today.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Mr. Sami Saeed, Federal Minister for Communications, Railways and Maritime Affairs, Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Federal Secretaries and other senior officers from Federal Ministries and Provincial departments participated in the meeting. The following projects were considered and decisions were made:
1. The ECNEC considered and approved Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Security Support Project at a total cost of Rs. 25,098.220 million. 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 the KP province. The project is proposed for a tenure of 05 years and will be implemented in 07 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Viz-A-Viz; Upper Dir, Swat, Malakand, Charsadda, Peshawar, Nowshera and D.I Khan
2. The ECNEC considered and approved a project titled “Sindh School Rehabilitation Project under Flood Restoration Program (ADB Emergency Assisted) at a total cost of Rs. 86,080.50 million with Provincial Government share Rs.7562.50 million and ADB Loan amounting to Rs.78518.00 million. In Sindh, five districts namely Dadu, Khairpur Mirs, Larkana, Nausharu Feroze & Qambar Shahdadkot were severely affected by rain/flood. 482 schools were fully damaged where as 1125 schools were partially damaged. Therefore 1607 schools would be rehabilitated through this project.
3. The ECNEC considered and approved a project of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Education Component: Refugees & Host communities Regional Sub Windows SH Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Capital Investment Project (KP-HCIP) at a total cost of Rs 32,834.80 million. The project will cover educational infrastructure rehabilitation, reconstruction of 1165 damaged schools in 13 districts of KP
4. The ECNEC considered and approved a project titled: “Prime Minister's Laptop Scheme” implemented through Higher Education commission (HEC) at a total cost of Rs 16,801.23 million.
5. The ECNEC considered and approved a project of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Human Capital Investment Project (KP-HCIP) (Health Component) at a total cost of Rs.24, 224.921 million. The project aims to improve availability, utilization and quality of primary care health services through provision of essential medicines, family planning commodities, hospital waste management and outsourcing of lab/ pharmaceutical / janitorial services for host communities and refugees
6. The ECNEC considered and approved a project on Women Inclusive Finance at a total cost of Rs.31413.047 million. The project aims to reduce constraints on Pakistani women in accessing credit; this project provides Credit Line Facility (CLF) so that more money is available for lending for women.
7. The ECNEC considered and approved a project of Ministry of Railways, titled Thar Coal Railway Connectivity' with existing Railway Network including Last Mile Connectivity with Port Qasim at the total rationalized cost of Rs 53,726.925 million with Local FEC of Rs 8,182.550 million, on 50:50 basis ratio between the Federal Government and Government of Sind.
8. The ECNEC considered and approved a project of Ministry of Communications; Government of Pakistan titled Peshawar Northern Bypass Project (PNBP) the total cost of Rs. 27,051.680 million without FEC. The project envisages construction of 32.20 km, 4-lane bypass with service roads on either side, on the northern side of Peshawar city. The bypass will be constructed along a new alignment passing through agricultural land with allied facilities. Land measuring approximately 3,430 kanal will be acquired for the requirement of the 55m Right of Way (ROW).
9. The ECNEC considered the Greater Thal Canal Project (Phase-II) at a total cost of Rs.38, 372.224. However, it was deferred with direction to Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and Ministry of Water to develop an appropriate summary of status of consultation among provinces and implementation of past decisions of ECNEC on the matter.
10. The ECNEC considered and approved Sindh Barrage Improvement Project (Phase-II) submitted by Ministry of Water Resources. As per project rehabilitation and modernization of Sukkur Barrage and remaining works for rehabilitation and Modernization of Guddu Barrage will take place at a total cost of Rs.74, 618.340 million.
