ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Wednesday approved the development, operation and maintenance of Karachi Circular Railway under Public Private Partnership mode.
The committee also approved to increase the Project Pay Scale (PPS) at the rate of 75 per cent for the staff directly hired for different development projects.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin, chaired the meeting where the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (PD&SI) submitted a summary on development, operation and maintenance of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) as a modern Urban Railway under Public Private Partnership mode with a total cost of Rs201.6 billion.
The project envisages the construction of a 43.225km dual track urban mass transit system to be built in a period of three years. Karachi Circular Railways Management Company (KCRMC) will be responsible to keep an oversight related to the execution, operation and maintenance of the project.
A committee was also formed under the Chairmanship of the Finance Minister to review the transaction structure related to the federal government VGF contribution.
It may be mentioned here that the Ecnec already approved a Rs20.7 billion infrastructure project for KCR in September of last year.
The PD&SI Ministry submitted a summary regarding the revised standardised pay packages for the staff directly recruited under development projects, where the meeting approved to enhance the PPS at the rate of 75 per cent.
The Ecnec approved a summary presented by the Ministry of PD&SI regarding appropriate allocation of total budget outlay in PSDP projects for running effective media campaigns to create awareness about the federal government’s policies, projects and initiatives aimed at socio-economic development and welfare of the people.
The Ministry submitted another summary on the Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETP-KP) which aims at improving the income of rural households through multi-sectoral interventions in agribusiness development and employment promotion.
It will be implemented throughout the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (35 districts) to contribute to poverty reduction, and food and nutrition security of rural communities.
The Ecnec approved the project at a cost of Rs30.26 billion including the IFAD loan of Rs17.6 billion, the provincial government share of Rs4.7 billion and beneficiaries share of Rs7.99 billion with a project gestation period of seven years (2022 to 2029).
The Ministry submitted another summary of recommendations after holding meetings with the representatives of the provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab on the Greater Thal Canal Project (Phase-II).
The project was approved in principle by the Ecnec on December 22, 2021, at a cost of Rs38.34 billion. The ECNEC after detailed discussion approved the project on the basis of the first four recommendations.
Federal Minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar; Minister for Irrigation Department Punjab, Muhammad Mohsin Leghari; Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, federal secretaries and other senior officers from federal as well as provincial governments participated in the meeting.
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