The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Monday approved the Punjab Arterial Roads Improvement Programme (PARIP) worth Rs. 129.94 billion. The project sponsored by the Government of Punjab envisages the construction of 535 km of dual carriageway highway sections between various cities in the province.
The ECNEC meeting, presided over by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin, after detailed deliberation also approved Punjab Rural Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRSWSSP) amounting to Rs. 96.2 billion to be executed by Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company in 16 Tehsils of Punjab. The committee gave directions to reduce its implementation time and carry it out 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.
Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme K-IV, 260 MGD Phase-I was also approved by the committee at a revised cost of Rs. 126.4 billion. Initially, the project was approved with an original capacity of 260 MGD in 2014 to be executed by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Government of Sindh. Later the project was revised and included in Karachi Transportation Plan (KTP) with the same 260 MGD capacity but with a change of sponsoring and executing agencies from the Government of Sindh to the 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 more than 100 km away from the source of Keenjhar Lake to feed Karachi’s water supply and distribution network.
ECNEC also approved the Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project to be executed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model at a total cost of Rs. 95.81 billion. The project envisages the construction of 04 lane access-controlled 117.20 km motorway from Kharian to Rawalpindi.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umer, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusroo Bakhtiar, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, federal secretaries and other senior officers from federal as well as provincial governments participated in the meeting.
Source: Pro Pakistani