The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved 7 development projects worth of Rs. 559.766 billion during its meeting chaired by Planning Minster Ahsan Iqbal.
Out of these, three projects worth Rs. 8.23 billion have been approved by the CDWP forum, while the forum has recommended four projects worth Rs. 551.536 billion to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for its consideration.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Planning Awais Manzur Sumra, Additional Secretary Planning, Members of the Planning Commission, as well as respective Federal Secretaries heads of Provincial and representatives from Federal Ministries and Provincial Governments.
The agenda included discussion on projects of Health, Manpower, Physical Planning & Housing, Transport & Communication and Science & Technology.
Three projects related to Health sector presented in the meeting. The first project “Improvement of Maternal and Child Health Equipment in Flood-affected and Surrounding Areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” worth Rs. 3147.497 million approved in the forum.
The second project of health sector “Prime Minister’s Programme for the Elimination of Hepatitis C Infection” worth Rs. 67.77 billion was recommended to ECNEC for further consideration. The project is designed with a 51 percent federal share and a 49 percent provincial share, aiming to screen, test, and treat 50 percent of the eligible population (82.5 million individuals aged 12 and above) for Hepatitis C.
The goal is to conduct rapid screening tests, PCR testing, and a 12-week oral treatment regimen for affected individuals. The Federal Government will supply 100 percent of the Rapid Diagnostic Test kits for screening, 30 percent of the PCR testing supplies, and 50 percent of the medicines required for treatment. However, the provision of these commodities will be contingent upon provinces meeting specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
To ensure the successful implementation of the program, the Federal Government will establish a Project Management Unit (PMU). Additionally, the Prime Minister will chair the National Task Force (NTF) to oversee the Hepatitis C elimination efforts and develop a national communication strategy for raising awareness and driving the elimination of Hepatitis C across the country.
The third project of the health sector “Prime Minister’s Program for Prevention and Control of Diabetes Mellitus” worth Rs. 6.8 billion was also recommended to ECNEC for further consideration.
The Project envisages prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Diabetes through awareness, advocacy, & communication, diagnosis at PHC facilities and referral for treatment at THQ/DHQ facilities. The CDWP approved to launch the programme in Federal areas (ICT, AJK and GB) in Year 1 (FY 2024-25) and side by provincial coordination will continue to get commitment of 50 percent financial contribution of the provinces where after the programme will be implemented nationwide.
The scope of the project was also enhanced to comprehensive awareness and behavior change campaign with robust strategy not limited to diabetes but all the non-communicable diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia etc.) within the same cost of the project.
A project related to Manpower sector “Balochistan Youth Internship Program- Under Post-flood 2022 Reconstruction Program; Resilience Enhancement and Livelihood Diversification in Balochistan” worth Rs. 1,820 million was approved by the forum.
A project “Establishment of Institute of Petroleum Technology (Revised)” related to Science & Technology worth Rs. 3,271.307 million was also approved by the forum.
A project related to physical planning and housing sector presented in the meeting namely “Flood Response Emergency Housing Project Phase-I (2nd Revision)” worth Rs. 447,000 million was recommended to ECNEC for further consideration. The project is proposed to be financed through foreign funding of World Bank.
A project related to Transport & Communication “CAREC Corridor Development Investment Program Tranche-I Project, Petaro-Sehwan Road Section 130.37 Km, Ratodero-Shikharpur Road Section 44.40 Km, Rehabilitation of Darra Adam Khel-Peshawar Road Section 34.35 Km (Total 209.12 Km) (Revised)” worth Rs. 29966.090 million was recommended to ECNEC for further consideration.
The project proposed to be financed through foreign funding of ADB, part funding from GoS and PSDP.
Follow ProPakistani on Google News & scroll through your favourite content faster!
Support independent journalism
If you want to join us in our mission to share independent, global journalism to the world, we’d love to have you on our side. If you can, please support us on a monthly basis. It takes less than a minute to set up, and you can rest assured that you’re making a big impact every single month in support of open, independent journalism. Thank you.
