Six development projects have been cleared by the central development working party (CDWP) during a recent meeting with the Federal Minister for Planning and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal. The projects have been cleared at the cost of Rs139 billion. The secretary, the additional secretary, the chief economist, and members of the Planning Commission were also a part of the meeting. The description of the the projects is stated as follows; Emergency Flood Assistance Project (EFAP) in Balochistan – OFWM component with the cost of Rs3.83 billion, Sindh Flood Emergency Reconstruction Project at the cost of Rs48 billion, Reconstruction Rehabilitation of Irrigation, Drainage System and Flood Protection works in KP at the cost of Rs15billion, Improving Workforce Readiness in Punjab Project (IWRPP) at the cost of Rs24 billion.
The reconstruction and fixing of N-5 from Moro to Ranipur region and work on the damaged bridges to get them up and running was recommended during the meeting as an essential project to be completed as quickly as possible. 36.21 billion rupees were decided to be the cost and Asian Development Bank (ADB) also decided to offer a financial support of 150 million dollars for the successful reparations to make sure the connectivity towards worst flood hit areas remains intact.
The approval of Workforce Readiness improvement project in Punjab was also sponsored by ADB and the Punjab government’s planning and development board at a cost of 24 billion rupees. This project is solely intended to empower the industry of technical education and vocational training authority (TVET) by the establishment of centres of excellence in accordance with 7 major TVET institutions in the province. The project also includes the development of 4 new and strengthening of 4 existing SSCs and training programs in forward looking skills to further empower the entrepreneurship system along with other goals to be maintained. The vocational training institutes shall also be established in the underdeveloped regions for their further development, preferred by the locals.
The reconstruction and rehabilitation of Drainage systems and flood protection work in the Khyber province was also decided by the forum during the meeting which will be supported by the government of KP and the cost for the project is set to Rs 15 billion. The project deems necessary as the weather disasters and floods all across the country in recent history have wreaked havoc and caused the loss of thousands of precious lives, damage of more than a hundred thousand villages and have been a devastation for the national economy. The drainage and irrigation systems shall also be a subject to repair and rehabilitation in the province of Balochistan at a cost of 12.5 billion rupees and some financial support by the ADB. The reparations will prove to be beneficial for the future climate disaster management and will ensure flood safety.
EFAP-OFWM component has also been approved by the forum with the cost of remaining 3.8 billion rupees to revive the economic conditions of the flood affected population in the rural areas by further development of On Farm Water Management infrastructure (OFWM). The overall improvement of agricultural economy and living conditions of small farmers is the basic aim of the project and will be carried out as progressively as possible.
