However, sources said, the Ecnec referred two main projects of energy sector including 747 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant at Guddu costing Rs 60.871 billion and National Compact Fluorescent worth Rs 7.030 billion to the Cabinet for approval. Talking to Business Recorder , Secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi said the Ecnec had cleared these two projects subject to the approval of the Cabinet.
He said these two projects were of national importance and therefore, were referred to federal cabinet for approval. He said that government would distribute 30 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFL)/energy savers free of cost to the consumers with the assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
According to a statement issued here, under the energy sector, the Ecnec approved following three other projects: (i) Extension/Augmentation of existing 500 and 220 kV G/stations of NTDC system by installation of additional transformers costing Rs 1,934.24 million with the FEC of Rs 1,373.66 million.
This project will cover various districts in Punjab, Sindh and NWFP; (ii) Up-gradation of Transmission Lines & Grid System Network of Hesco costing Rs 5,859.97 million with FEC of Rs 1,699.5 million; (iii) Nuclear Fuel Enrichment Plant (NFEP) Project at the cost of Rs 14,247.64 million including FEC of Rs 5,571.41 million. The project is located in Mianwali District.
Under the Physical Planning and Housing Sector, the Ecnec gave approval to the following six projects: (i) Re-construction of District Complexes at (i) Rawlakot Azad Kashmir and (ii) Bagh, Azad Kashmir with a cost of Rs 1318.52 million and Rs 1459.512 million respectively.
The projects are part of an umbrella project of ERRA for reconstruction and rehabilitation of earthquake affected areas of AJ&K; (ii) construction of New Supreme Court Building at Islamabad (2nd Revised PC-1) at a cost of Rs 1055.334 million; (iii) Construction of additional family suites for members of the parliament including servant quarters blocks at Sector G-5/2, Islamabad costing Rs 2908.369 million; (iv) Gravity Flow Water Supply Scheme in Abbottabad with a cost of Rs 4280.105milliion.
The entire cost of the local component of the project will be met by the Government of NWFP from its own resources. (Approved subject to Cabinet policy in the light of NFC); (v) Extension of water resources for Faisalabad city - Phase-I at a cost of Rs 5133.96 million including FEC of Rs 3794.56 million; (vi) Quetta Water Supply and Environmental Improvement Project (QWSIP)Revised costing Rs 17,092.60 million.
For the transport and communication sector, the Ecnec approved the 18 projects that include; (i) Private-Public Partnership Based Environment Friendly Public Transport System for major urban centers of Pakistan with the cost of Rs 5,000.0 million. The project is meant for Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Hyderabad, Gujranwala and Sukkur.
(ii) Construction and Remodelling of Southern By-Pass detouring Hayatabad, Peshawar. The project will cost Rs 3,030.0 million. The project envisages improvement and widening of existing 25 km long and 7.3 m wide dual carriageway to three lane dual carriageway including construction of 12 ft wide service roads (on both sides), along with the allied facilities; (iii) Bridge over River Indus connecting Larkana and Khairpur Districts with the cost of Rs 9,225.338 million.
The project covers construction of a 1,222 meters long, 4-lane concrete bridge over river Indus along with 55.63 km long, approach roads with 7.3 m wide standard 2-lane single carriageway along with allied facilities; (iv) Construction of Bridge Across River Indus linking Kandhkot located on the National Highway N-55 with Ghotki located on the National Highway N-5 at a cost of Rs 5,742.422 million; (v) Improvement of Multan Inner Ring Road including six interchanges with improvement of at Grade Intersections Enroute with the cost of Rs 6,191.26 million; (vi) Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway M-9 (134.5 km) which will cost Rs 13,439.467 million; (vii) Construction of 103 km long Khanewal-Lodhran (Bahawalpur) Access Controlled Expressway (E-5A) costing Rs 24,584.24 million with FEC Rs 8,371.15 million;(viii) Bridge over River Indus linking N-5 with N-55 near Nishtar Ghat with the cost of Rs 5,459.329 million;(ix) widening and improvement of Bosan Road, Multan (from Chungi No 9 to Bahauddin Zakariya University) including construction of 2-lane flyovers for right turns at Chungi No 6 and Golbagh Chowk & two lanes flyover from Chungi No 6 to Northern Bypass Chowk with the cost of Rs 4,570.022 million;(x) Amri - Qazi Ahmed Bridge over River Indus (between Hyderabad Bypass and Dadu Mordo Bridge) connecting N-5 with N-55 costing Rs 3,683.0 million; (xi) Construction of Bridge across River Chenab linking Shorkot and Garh Mahraja which will cost Rs 1,602.878 million; (xii) National Highway Development Sector Project Improvement and Rehabilitation of nine (9) sections of the National Highways (Revised) with the cost of Rs 49,954.78 million (FEC: Rs 38,268.74 million); (xiii) Construction of New Gwadar International Airport and allied facilities costing Rs 7,675.00, including Omani grant of US $17.50 million; (xiv) Procurement/manufacture of 300 New Design High Speed Bogie Wagons (Revised) at the revised cost of Rs 3,238.00 million with FEC of Rs 1,768.970 million; (xv) Complete Track Renewal by Replacing Metal Sleepers in connection with Signalling project on Lodhran-Shahdara Section costing Rs 2,216.0 million (with FEC: Rs 1,274.886 million); (xvi) Sustainable livelihood for Barani Areas Project (Punjab) costing Rs 4002.90 million with FEC of Rs 100.00 million.
The project will cover ten districts ie Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal, Gujrat, Sialkot, Narowal, Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Layyah; (xvii) Rehabilitation of assets damaged during the riots of 27th & 28th December, 2007 (Revised) at a cost of Rs 7,855.953 million with FEC of Rs 4710.0 million. The project is located at Karachi and Sukkur Divisions of the Pakistan Railways; (xviii) Peshawar Northern Bypass - 32.2 km (Revised) with the cost of Rs 9,002.75 million.
The Ecnec also formed a committee under the chairmanship of the minister for agriculture to finalise recommendations on enhanced grain storage capacity in the country in one month. The Ecnec also gave approval of procedure for approval of development projects of Fata and allowed ACS (Dev) Fata to approve development schemes only to be financed from US funds up to Rs 1000 million for the next two years.