ISLAMABAD:

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday approved seven development projects worth Rs15.174 billion and referred four major schemes with a cumulative cost of Rs108.16 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.

The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Ahsan Iqbal. According to an official statement, the forum reviewed a range of development initiatives aimed at strengthening key sectors of the national economy. Participants included the Chief Economist, Vice Chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, members of the Planning Commission, federal secretaries, heads of provincial planning and development departments, and senior representatives from relevant ministries and provincial governments.

The agenda covered projects in education and training, governance, health, higher education, information technology, physical planning and housing, power and water. In the education sector, the forum approved the establishment of a Daanish School at Haveli-Kahuta in Azad Jammu and Kashmir at a cost of Rs4.687 billion. The Planning Commission directed the education ministry to rationalise the cost in line with previously approved Daanish Schools PC-I and to submit year-wise operational expenditure details.

Two revised health sector projects were presented. The upgradation of District Headquarters Hospital Hafizabad, estimated at Rs7.93 billion, was referred to ECNEC. The forum observed that the project falls within the provincial domain and decided that any additional financial liability would be borne by the Punjab government, which would reimburse excess funds released by the Centre. The CDWP also approved the National Health Support Programme (KP Component) worth Rs1.335 billion.

In higher education, the forum cleared a Rs1.846 billion project titled Prime Minister’s Scheme for Enabling Youth with Physical Challenges at higher education institutions through electric wheelchairs, laptops for blinds and audio-visual aids. The Higher Education Commission was directed to restrict the facility to full-time students of public sector universities. A revised project to digitise land records in rural areas of Islamabad Capital Territory costing Rs185.691 million was approved under the information technology sector.

Two projects related to physical planning and housing were also approved, including construction of an administrative block for the Supreme Court branch registry in Quetta and the revised Pakistan Audit and Accounts Academy project in Islamabad.