Islamabad:
On Wednesday, the government approved the construction of the construction of the DASU hydroelectric project at a cost of 240% higher of RS1.74 Billions and also decided to build a new border crossing position in Wagah with India.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), which has taken decisions, also approved the construction of 30 anti-counterband posts along the Indus river and in Balutchistan at the cost of 15 billion rupees.
The Ecnec has taken over 10 projects for approval at a cost of 2.1 billions of rupees, including the construction of the DASU hydroelectric project as an additional article. Vice-Prime Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the Executive Committee, which has the mandate to approve the mega development systems.
The Ecnec approved, subject to the DASU project revised at a record cost of RS1.7 Billions or 6.2 billion dollars. Last month, the Minister of Planning called the cost of an “astronomical increase” of 240%.
Conditional approval was given to facilitate negotiations on loans with foreign lenders. It has also been decided that a helicopter will be bought under the supervision of the secretary of the firm for safe trips of Chinese entrepreneurs of the DASU hydroelectric project. According to officials, a planning committee committee is still examining the cost of the project.
Compared to the original cost, there was a massive leap in RS1.3 cost of the hydroelectric project with the cost per unit of the cheapest water -based electricity production scheme at 8.79 rupees. The initial cost of the project was 479 billion rupees.
During the meeting of the central development party, the Minister of Planning, Ahsan Iqbal, had led the third validation of the astronomical increase in the revised PC-I.
The Minister of Planning Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday did not comment on the questions on the approval of the DASU hydroelectric project as an additional article and the construction of new border passengers with India.
The cost of $ 6.2 billion in the project is now almost equal to the cost of $ 6.7 billion to build a Karachi railroad in Peshawar as part of the Chine-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The project had been planned to generate 2,160 MW of electricity and the government now needs more foreign and local loans. Wapda was in negotiations with the World Bank for a huge loan of $ 1 billion. The loan of $ 1 billion will be a mixture of expensive and concessional loans. The World Bank has already granted a loan of $ 517 million for the project.
The government will also obtain a foreign commercial loan of $ 400 million using the World Bank guarantees. He will also seek 350 billion rupees in national commercial loans.
The government had previously ordered an investigation to determine the reason for climbing costs, but it did not set the responsibility of a single entity or individual and figures pointed out among Chinese entrepreneurs, WAPDA and the planning commission.
The investigation had also blamed the local administration of the Kohistan district for a delay in land acquisition. He said the cost was increased by 48 billion rupees due to improved security agreements after two deadly attacks against Chinese entrepreneurs. The impact of the security provision was hardly 3.8% in total costs of costs.
The Ecnec approved the construction of a new border crossing in Wagah with India. The government already implements a project with the development of the Development Bank to build border crossings along the Afghan border.
In July of last year, the committee decided that a similar position would also be built at a key crossing point with the India border, Wagah. With a cost of 95.5 billion rupees, two locations are already under construction in Torkham and Shaman International Borders.
The contract for the Wagah post will be given by competitive auctions, according to the decision.
The ECNEC had asked the Ministry of Planning to give its recommendation to build the Cross Border Crossing site under the government agreement or through international competitive tenders. The Committee informed the ECNEC that the lessons learned from the existing contract, the documentary evidence provided by the FBR, the comparative analysis of the merits and the government’s demerites and the government contract, the Public Markets Regulations of the BAD and the rules for the procurement of public procurement, it was advisable to give a contract by competitive auctions.
The Ecnec has also approved the construction of 30 anti-contremasse control points along the Indus, Hub and Balutchistan river with a cost of almost 15 billion rupees. The Federal Board of Revenue admitted to the ECNEC that conventional anti-confident methods had not given results and that the economy suffered 750 billion red routes due to smuggling.
The project aims to establish digital and mobile application stations (DES), as well as improved control posts, to limit smuggling, improve tax revenue, promote formal trade and strengthen border security through technology app. The scope of the work includes the development of 10 sites in Balutchistan, as well as 11 small, 6 mediums and 3 large sites of the designated locations.
The Ecnec approved phase II of the Sindh flooding emergency rehabilitation project at the cost of RS12.2 billion. Phase II provides for the restoration and rehabilitation of 146 kilometers long 19 routes in four districts affected by the floods.
The Ecnec approved a revised project for the repair of 100 locomotives at a cost of RS16 billion. He also sanctioned a project at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the revised cost of RS113 billion for rural accessibility to markets, education and health establishments, by rehabilitation of the rural road network, measuring 878 km.
The Mangi dam at 19 billion revised rupees has been approved. The main objective of the project is to reduce the existing deficit in water demand which is currently facing Quetta City. Currently, the estimated availability of drinking water in the Quetta valley is much lower than 15 gallons per inhabitant per day. Adopting a water consumption of 20 gallons per capita per day, the current requirement of Quetta water is estimated at 40.9 mgd (76.0 CUSECs). The Mangi dam proposed will allow an offer of 8.1 mgd (15.1 CUSECS) in Quetta City.
The Ecnec approved the project, namely “Sindh Early Learning Improvement of the transformation into class” worth 46.6 billion rupees. The project is expected to be funded by the World Bank and the Sindh government. The project aims to fill the critical gaps in the offer by using a combination of funding based on results and traditional spending mechanisms to improve the availability of schools, teachers’ allocation and learning results in the province.
The ECNEC has also approved the strengthening of the 220 kV transmission systems network in the Islamabad and Burhan region worth RS11.3 billion. The main objective of the project is to improve the capacity of the national transmission system to remove transmission constraints in order to meet the growing demand for the load of IESCO and also for a reliable dispersion of the future generation of Tarbela 5th Extension Project.
