The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved 33 projects costing about over Rs.600 billion foreign exchange component of Rs.130 billion.
The ECNEC met here with the Federal Minister for Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair on Thursday.
Approved projects are in the sectors of transport and communications, irrigation, food and agriculture, education and health, energy, information technology and cities development.
To overcome the power shortage, five projects of Energy costing Rs 81.5 billion including Power Distribution Enhancement Investment Programme, Phase-II, National Compact Florescent Lamps, Addition of 500 & 220 KV Substations into NTDC System and Combined Cycle Power Plant of 320 MW to be gifted by UAE were approved. These projects will help to enhance the existing capacity in the system through conservation and efficient distribution efforts.
Four projects of Transport & Communication sector costing Rs 96.2 billion comprising ‘Procurement of (US Origin) 150 Diesel Electric Locomotives’ ‘Improvement, Widening and Construction of Kohlu-Sibbi Road Project (Length 162.5 Km)’ ‘Improvement and Widening of Jaglot - Skardu Road (S-I) (167 Km)’ and ‘Extension of Motorway (M-4) from Khanewal to Multan 57 km’.
To ensure food security in the country, three projects of Agriculture Sector approved by ECNEC included ‘Punjab Economic Opportunities Program (PEOP)’ ‘Pak. China National Project for Controlled Atmosphere (CA) and advanced Ventilated Cold Storage’ and ‘National Project for Enhancing Existing Capacity of Grain Storage’. The projects will help to reduce poverty in the rural areas and enhance existing food grain storage capacity.
To provide Primary Health Care and to achieve the MDGs Goals, important projects of Health Sector were also approved. These were ‘Prime Minister's Program for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis (Prime Minister's Emergency Action on Hepatitis)’ ‘Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), and ‘National Programme for Family Planning & Primary Health Care (NP-FP & PHC), "The Lady Health Workers' Programme" (LHWP) - Phase-II’
Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr. Nadeemul Haq informed about the need for rationalizing the portfolio in line with resource availability. He also emphasized the need for balance between new and ongoing projects and the optimization of available resources.
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh asked the Planning Commission to present a detailed plan in the next ECNEC with a rationalized portfolio reflecting balanced regional growth and focus on completion of projects to provide maximum benefits to the citizens. He also emphasized the need for improving the monitoring and evaluation of projects to ensure transparency and best utilization of national resources
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