ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved various road and water development projects at a cost of Rs448 billion.
These projects include Punjab Arterial Roads Improvement Programme (PARIP), Punjab Rural Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRSWSSP), Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme K-IV and Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project.
Under the chair of Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin, the ECNEC meeting on Monday approved PARIP worth Rs129.94 billion ($773.2 million).
The project sponsored by the government of Punjab envisages construction of 535 kilometre of dual carriageway highway sections between various cities in the Punjab province.
The Council approved the PRSWSSP amounting Rs96.2 billion ($553 million), to be executed by Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company in 16 Tehsils of Punjab, with directions to reduce its implementation time and carry out it initially as a pilot project in some Tehsils and submit its report to the ECNEC for further consideration.
The project has been designed to provide basic civic amenities such as water supply, sanitation and solid waste management in the rural areas of selected Tehsils of Punjab.
The Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme K-IV, 260MGD Phase–I at a revised cost of Rs126.4 billion was also approved. Initially, the project was approved with original capacity of 260MGD in 2014, to be executed by Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.
But the project was later revised and included in the Karachi Transportation Plan (KTP) with the same 260MGD capacity but change of sponsoring and executing agencies from Sindh Government to Ministry of Water resources and Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in 2021.
The project aims to meet the growing water demand of Karachi and provide a dependable and sustainable water transmission system from its more than 100 kilometre away source of Keenjhar Lake to feed Karachi water supply and distribution network.
ECNEC also approved the Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project to be executed on BOT basis under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode at a total cost of Rs95.81 billion. The project envisages construction of a 4 lane access-controlled 117.20 kilometre motorway from Kharian to Rawalpindi.
