The Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) here at the Prime Minister’s Office.
ECNEC considered and approved the project of the “Irrigation Department, Government of Balochistan” for the Construction of 100 Small Dams in Balochistan- package III (20 Dams) in the different districts of Balochistan province at the rationalized cost of Rs. 7829.874 million. The project will complete in 3 years’ time. The project will greatly benefit the province of Balochistan in harnessing the flood flows and in this way supply about 175,500 acre-ft of conserved flood water for direct irrigation and drinking purposes and will benefit about 58,500 acres of fertile cultivable land. It will save the land from flood damages as well as providing direct and indirect employment opportunities to the population. The construction of these dams will also promote tourism and aquaculture production in the province.
The chair directed that Ministry of Planning will set up a monitoring committee to make sure that the project is completed in three years time. This committee will also have a member from Ministry of Water and Power to look after the implementation of the project.
“Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project (SPPAP) IFAD Assisted, Revised” also got approval by ECNEC. The project was approved at the total revised cost of 4657.957 million rupees with FEC of 4,140.397 million. The project will help improve the standard of life in four less developed districts of Punjab (Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur). International fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) has helped in the financing of the project through a soft loan of US$ 40.13 million. The project will help in poverty reduction in the areas of Southern Punjab with assistance in income generation, increasing agricultural productivity, improved livelihood opportunities, providing vocational training specially to women and building physical infrastructure to improve the quality of life. The project is expected to complete in 2017.
“Gwadar- Nawabshah LNG Terminal & Pipeline Project (GNP)” was approved at the rationalized cost of Rs. 203,314.08 million with Rs. 135,128.46 million as FEC. The project is expected to complete in 2 years (2016-2018). The key objective of this project is to overcome the shortage of natural gas supply by importing LNG at Gwadar. The scope of the project consists of construction of 700 km pipeline having diameter of 42 inches from Gwadar to Nawabshah. EAD has agreed to discuss the financing arrangements for this project with EXIM Bank China.
For the transport and communication sector, Ministry of Railways was allowed “Procurement of 58 Diesel Electric Locomotives (2nd revised)” at the re-revised cost of Rs.16300 million with FEC of 11755.435 million rupees. The procurement will be complete by December 2016. The proposed locos will replace 50 over-aged locomotives and will be used to haul freight and passenger services along with High Capacity Wagons fitted with air brakes and roller bearing. With the completion of the project the capacity of Pakistan Railways will improve many times, the meeting was informed.
The Golan Gol Hydropower project (106 MW) revised for District Chitral Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was approved at the updated cost of Rs.29, 077.173 million with FEC of 10,679.885 million. The project having an installed capacity of 106 MW would generate an annual energy of about 436 GWh. The project will be connected with the national grid with a 198 km transmission line which include 132kv transmission line from Golan Gol to Timurgarha passing over Lowari pass (145km) and 132 kv single circuit line from Taimurgarh to Chakdara (53 km).
The Project of Peshawar Electric Supply Company for the construction of 7th Secondary Transmission Line and Grid Stations was also approved at the rationalized cost of Rs. 19989.114 million with FEC of Rs.1920.574 million. The project will complete in 5 years (2016-2021) and will benefit the entire province of KP.
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