Five development projects were mentioned on Wednesday by The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) at a cumulative cost of about Rs54 billion and Rs38bn for the second phase of a project of laying cross-border optic fibre cable with China.
At a meeting held by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jahanzeb Khan, these four development projects were approved by CDWP with the estimated cost of Rs16bn and referred for approval to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) the Rs37.91bn Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) Project along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Route (Khunjrab-Gwadar-Karachi).
Objective of the Project
The objective of the project is to provide alternate path for international connectivity through Northern border of Pakistan with China since it will avoid interruption of connectivity between Northern and Southern borders of the country by establishing multiple rings for secure and uninterrupted communication network etc.
It has also been decided that provinces will be sharing the Covid-19 Responsive and Other Natural Calamities Control Program. Whereas financial sharing is still unsettled for now. The federal share of the project would now be Rs70b.
One of the projects included Physical Planning & Housing titled “Construction of Islamabad High Court Building at Islamabad (Revised)” worth Rs4.989bn. Two projects were related to education. “Support to Basic Education Development Project AJ&K” worth Rs5.97bn and second project titled “Basic Education for All Project AJ&K” worth Rs1.58bn.
The meeting also approved a Rs3.482bn worth of project namely “Establishment of National Aerospace Science & Technology Park”. One Position Paper which was related to water resources namely Nai Gaj Dam with an estimated cost of Rs46.555bn was also approved in this meeting.
