ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP), under the chairmanship of Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Ahsan Iqbal, approved 10 development projects in its recent meeting.
Out of these, 4 projects worth Rs14.312 billion were approved by the CDWP forum, while 6 projects amounting to Rs1.82 trillion have been recommended to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for consideration and final approval.
The agenda comprised projects across diverse sectors including Education & Training, Higher Education, Information Technology, Physical Planning & Housing, Power, Water Resources, and Transport & Communications.
In the Education & Training sector, the CDWP considered the project titled “Getting Results Accesses and Delivery of Quality Education Services in Balochistan (New)” worth Rs28,000 million, which has been referred to ECNEC for further consideration. The project, to be financed through foreign funding of $100 million from the World Bank, is designed to address systemic challenges in Balochistan’s education sector. It encompasses four key components focusing on improving access to education, enhancing teaching quality, strengthening data-driven accountability, building resilience to climate change and introducing emergency preparedness mechanisms.
In the Higher Education sector, the project “Establishment of Sub-Campus Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad at Sharaqpur, Sheikhupura (New)” worth Rs3,888.147 million was approved after detailed deliberations on the condition of provision of land by the Government of Punjab and approval by the syndicate of the university.
In the Information Technology sector, three projects were approved: “Prime Minister’s Initiatives - Support for IT Startups, Specialized IT Trainings and Venture Capital (Revised)” worth Rs5,000 million; “Strengthening of Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform in IT (2nd Revised)” worth Rs579.815 million; and “National Semiconductor HR Development Program (NSHRDP) Phase-I (New)” worth Rs4,844.219 million.
Under the Physical Planning & Housing sector, the project “Construction of Customs Complex at Sost (Part A) and Construction of Customs Digital Enforcement Stations by FBR along rivers Indus, Hub and in Balochistan (Part B) (Revised)” worth Rs16,101.320 million was referred to ECNEC.
In the Power sector, the revised “Dasu Hydropower Project (Stage-I)” worth Rs1,737,881 million was referred to ECNEC subject to Wapda rationalising the costs and answering the queries.
Reviewing the project, Minister Ahsan Iqbal emphasized the strategic importance of Dasu Hydro power project for Pakistan’s water and food security. He expressed serious concern on massive cost escalation from the original Rs479 billion to almost Rs1.73 trillion due to delays and mismanagement in the project.
He directed to get third party validation of the astronomical increase in the revised PC-1. The basic objective of the Dasu Hydropower Project is to expand the generation capacity of the power sector by exploiting the hydel potential of the country that is available on rivers to reduce carbon footprint and tap country’s hydro energy potential.
The minister and the DCPC Ahsan Iqbal, while reviewing the Dasu project, emphasized the strategic importance of the Dasu for Pakistan’s water and food security, underscoring the need for its swift completion in the national interest. He noted that previously the estimated construction cost was Rs479 billion, with Rs120 billion already allocated for land acquisition.
However, he attributed the substantial cost escalation—to Rs1.73 trillion to mismanagement and delays and lack of progress during the previous government, which he described has disastrous consequences for development projects in every field. He took notice of the fact that despite ECNEC directions to appoint an independent full time project director for each project over Rs3 billion Wapda didn’t appoint an independent project director (PD) for the project.
It was also pointed out that there was no professional CFO for the project. The minister asked, how is Wapda running a project of this magnitude without a qualified and competent CFO? The minister was angry to learn that Wapda had awarded contract for the construction of 66 kms KKH section in foreign currency. On his inquiry that why was road construction project done in foreign currency, Wapda couldn’t give any satisfactory reply.