The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved four projects worth Rs. 6.8 billion and recommended another project worth Rs. 43.32 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
CDWP meeting, held in Islamabad on Monday, was chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan. Secretary Planning, Mathar Niaz Rana, Senior officials from Planning Commission and Federal Ministries and Divisions also participated in the meeting while representatives from Provincial Governments participated through a video link.
Projects related to Energy, Information Technology, Transport, and Communications were presented in the meeting. ------------------------------
A project presented in the meeting related to Energy, namely “16 MW Hydro Power Project Naltar-III, Gilgit,” worth Rs. 6199.493 million was approved by the CDWP.
The object of the project is to construct a 16 MW Hydropower project to transmit energy to Gilgit through the existing 66 kV transmission line of Naltar-V for meeting the power requirements of Gilgit Town and its surrounding areas.
Three projects related to Information Technology were presented in the meeting. The first project, namely “Feasibility study for Establishing of Jiddat Investment and Support Fund,” is worth Rs. 84.200 million.
The second project, titled “Feasibility study and consultancy for Development of STZ (Special Technology Zones) in Pakistan,” is worth Rs. 165 million. Whereas, the third project was “High Impact Skills Boot Camp,” which is worth Rs. 420.011 million. The project aims to train 200 IT professionals in 4 critical emerging technologies i.e;
1. Cloud Computing 2. Artificial Intelligence 3. Machine Learning 4. BlockChain
The emphasis is to develop a core group pf trainers and high valued highly skilled professionals that could provide training to local human resources later in the critical emerging technologies
CDWP approved all three Information Technology projects.
Ministry of Communications presented the project related to Transport and Communications, titled “Sialkot (Sambial) – Kharian Motorway,” worth Rs. 43328.552 million. This project was referred to ECNEC for further approval. ------------------------------
The project envisages of construction of a 69-km long 4-lanes wide Sambial-Kharian Motorway with structures to be constructed for 6-lanes. It will be a divided controlled access road with 0.6 m New Jersey Barrier as median and having a Right of Way of 100m.
In his concluding remarks, Secretary Motahar Niaz Rana appreciated and acknowledged the efforts of the officers of the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives for conducting the weekly meetings of CDWP with utmost diligence.