Islamabad: Seven uplift projects amounting to a total cost of PKR 142 billion have been approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), according to a news report. This was decided at a CDWP meeting, the first to be held after a period of six months.
This meeting was presided over by Minister for Planning and Development Mukhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar. Bakhtyat deferred the PKR 65 billion transit project for Karachi during the proceedings. The past six months of inactivity had caused projects to be halted, due to the absence of approvals and sourcing of funds from multilateral lenders.
The current financial rules state that the CDWP can only approve projects worth up to PKR 3 billion, and are to refer more costly projects to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) after clearing the technicalities. Thus, the organisation formally cleared five projects, with a total cost of PKR 6.93 billion. The Peshawar Sustainable Bus Rapid Transit Corridor was also referred, with the cost revised to PKR 67.953 billion, an increase of 38% from its original cost of PKR 49.3 billion. May other projects were discussed in this meeting, with some being referred, and others deferred.
