Tag Archives: Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC)

Low-Income Housing Finance Project on Cards 

on 06/04/2018

        Islamabad approaches World Bank for $150 m credit 

The federal government is planning to start a housing finance project for low-income Pakistanis with US$150 million credit from World Bank. The government has approached the bank for a soft loan of US$150 m for ‘Housing Finance Program’ which will help people get affordable financing for constructing their homes, officials said.

The loan will be provided in two tranches of US$145 m and US$5 m and will cost the cheapest interest rate. The bank will provide the loan at 1.25 percent interest rate. Pakistan’s central bank will provide it to the commercial banks which will utilize it for mortgage purposes.

At present, a federal program for housing is underway thus the government has to utilize it under that program as a foreign exchange component (FEC) or will make new PC-I for the purpose. It will require approvals from the CDWP and ECNEC.

Pakistan is facing a shortage of around 9 million housing units. An annual demand stands at 0.6 million units which is being added to burgeoning total. With a considerable future demand, Pakistan requires a huge investment in this sector. It requires to construct 0.5 million houses annually for 18 years.  For such a purpose, a sum of US$2.5 billion is required to meet the fresh demand of 0.6 million units besides an amount of US$2 billion per year to address the backlog.

KCR groundbreaking on Dec 25No one is for sure!

on 05/11/2017

A senate committee is adamant that groundbreaking of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project should be performed by December 25 and, in an attempt to make it sure the committee has warned of not tolerating unnecessary delay. The committee don’t see any hindrance in groundbreaking since it believes all institutions involved in the project are on the board. However, Pakistan Railways view it differently believing December is ambitious. Resultantly, no one knows if the KCR groundbreaking would be done on the date the committee has pushed for. The Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reform gave such directive to the Ministry of Railways and Sindh to make every effort to ensure groundbreaking of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project by December 25 this year.

Presiding over a meeting on October 9, Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said, “This is a very important project as all institutions are on board; moreover, the project has also been included in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Why is there unnecessary delay?”

He directed the authorities concerned to arrange a meeting of the two committees workingunder the Federal Ministry of Railways and the Sindh government to discuss the right of way and encroachment issue and send recommendations to the Senate committee within 15 days. Railways Director General Planning Mazhar Ali Shah informed the committee that feasibility report and PC-1 of the project had already been approved but the framework agreement and award of commercial contract had not yet been agreed. Hence, ground-breaking of the project by December 25, 2017 seemed to be an ambitious target, he added. Responding to this, Senator Sherry Rehman expressed dissatisfaction over the railways ministry’s progress, saying if there was a will to ensure ground-breaking by the set date, then all issues could be resolved within 48 hours. Briefing the committee about the project, Sindh Transport Secretary Saeed Awan said work on clearing of encroachments standing in the way of KCR was stopped due to some unknown reasons. He said the project costing $1.9 billion was approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) in its meeting held on October 6, 2017.

CDWP approves 17 Developmental Projects

on 17/07/2017

Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved 17 development projects worth Rs178.3 billion. It also forwarded 6 mega projects, including RBOD-I-II and III to the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further approval. The approved projects are of transport & communications, energy, water resources, information technology, higher education, physical planning & housing, health and governance sectors. The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Ahsan Iqbal and was attended by officials from different ministries and provincial governments. The body gave go ahead to Right Bank Outfall Drain I, II and III worth Rs90.2 billion and recommended it to ECNEC for further approval. The cost of RBOD-I is Rs17.5 billion, RBOD-II Rs61.9 billion and RBOD-III Rs10.8 billion. The project was referred by ECNEC to CDWP for revision and reconsideration. The RBOD-II project was reconsidered by the CDWP in March 2017 wherein the financing mechanism of flood component of RBOD-II was discussed in detail. After agreement by the Sindh government to share the flood protection cost (Rs7 billion), the project was approved by CDWP. In transport and communication sector, CDWP recommended three projects of Rs43.2 billion to ECNEC.CDWP recommended CAREC (Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation) Corridor Development Investment Program Tranche-I Projects to ECNEC for approval. The project is part of CAREC Corridor road network 5 & 6 which connects Pakistan up north to China and west through Afghanistan respectively.The Rs24.7 billion Asian Development Bank financed project envisages improving 208 km of N-55 road in three sections including Petaro to Sehwan Section dualization, 128 km, Ratodero to Shikarpur Section dualization, 44 km, including construction of 2 km bypass at Lakhi town to avoid huge cost of land and impacts of resettlements and rehabilitation of existing dual carriageway from Darra Adam Khel to Peshawar Section, 36 km. Construction of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Bridge over Indus with Guide Banks linking N-5 with N-55 including approach roads worth Rs9.8 billion was also approved by CDWP. The revised project envisages construction of 1.2 km and 11.9 meter wide two lanes single carriageway bridge across River Indus, connecting district Ranjanpur (Mithankot), located on the National Highway (N-55) with district Rahim Yar Khan (Chachran), located on the National Highway (N-5). Another project in transport & communication sector that CDWP forwarded to ECNEC for further approval is Rs8.6 billion project for the construction of Chitral – Garam Chashma – Doraha Pass Road (82.5 km). The project envisages construction, rehabilitation, improvement and widening of existing 82.5 km and 3.65 meter wide road to a width of 7.3 meter of Chitral – Garam Chashma to Doraha Pass. The scope of work also includes elimination of major causeways to have all weather road, construction of 10 km new road on other side of Lutkho River for tourist activities with allied facilities & stretches. The project has been taken up as a result of announcement of the Prime Minister during his recent visit to Chitral. In physical planning & housing sector, CDWP approved two projects worth 29.4 billion. In physical planning, CDWP recommended Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Program’ worth Rs27.2 billion to ECNEC. The project includes transforming the selected urban areas of Sailkot and Sahiwal into green, inclusive, resilient and comparative smart cities with improved livability supporting social and economic growth through improved municipal governance, integrated urban planning, improved service delivery, efficient local mobility and climate resilient infrastructure and introduction of IT for city service delivery improvement with the framework of SMART City. The chair recommended cost rationalization for this project to be completed with the support of Asian Development Bank. Similarly, the CDWP also approved the project of Rural Sanitation through Saaf Suthro Sindh (SSS). This Sindh government project of 2.2 billion rupees would be financed by Asian Development Bank. CDWP further approved two projects in information technology sector worth Rs 2.7 billion. It includes e-office (basic common applications) replication at divisions of federal government. The e-office or e-filing system comprising of six modules which were developed as pilot project at ministry of information technology, including internal communications & movement of files, human resource management system, inventory & procurement management system, project management system, finance, planning & budgeting, internal portal. Ahsan Iqbal instructed to ensure CDWP meetings to be held through e-office system in future. Another IT sector project approved includes Pakistan Post Reform Initiatives: Automation of Post Offices. The proposed project will facilitate Pakistan Post and improve public service at its business units. This will also provide value added services including Online Post Stores, Mobile Card Top-Ups through Mobile Companies to Pakistan Post clients in future. Automation of Pakistan Post will improve financial control, ensure accurate assessment of budget estimates, improve customer service, decrease workload on Pakistan Post staff and extend additional facilities to public. The project would be completed through Korean soft loan. The Planning Commission Forum approved Rs104.7 million energy sector project ‘Hiring Consultancy Services for Third Party Validation of Neelum Jhehlum Hydropower Project. The project will broadly include validation of actual cost incurred under various phases, assessment of cost of various activities as per awarded contracts and evaluation, assessment of delays and cost overrun thereof, in order to determine value for money. Minister Ahsan Iqbal instructed to prepare ToRs to ensure realistic and clear evaluation of the project. The meeting also approved three projects in health sector worth Rs1.2 billion which include strengthening of health services Academy, Islamabad, establishment of safe blood transfusion services project phase II, KP and establishment of medical device development center (MDDC) at NUST. The MDDC project envisages of development of medical devices including stents. CDWP approved a Rs 2.4 billion agriculture project promotion of olive cultivation on commercial scale in Pakistan besides giving go ahead to Economic Affairs Division project ‘Strengthening of External Debt Management worth 64 million. In education sector, CDWP approved three projects worth Rs9.7 billion, including Award of Scholarship to Students from Gwadar, Science Talent Farming Scheme and mega project ‘Award of Allama Muhammad Iqbal 3000 Scholarships to Afghan Students’. Under the project Award of Scholarship to Students from Gwadar, students will be facilitated to get higher education at Pakistan’s universities and learn Chinese language abroad. Under the project Award of Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarships to Afghan Students’, 3000 students would be facilitated to get higher education in Pakistan’s universities. The project also envisages short professional training to Afghan civil servants.