ISLAMABAD, July 7(ABC): The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) here on Wednesday approved construction of Hyderabad–Sukkur Motorway on Built Operate Transfer (BOT) basis with revised cost of Rs. 308,194.00 Million.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Miftah Ismail chaired the ECNEC meeting while among others it was attended by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal; Federal Minister for Commerce, Syed Naveed Qamar; Planning & Development Minister of Baluchistan, Noor Muhammad Dummar; Finance Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra; Federal Secretaries and other federal and provincial senior officers.
According to press release issued by fiancé ministry, the federal government’s share in the project would be Rs. 10.3 billion ( Rs. 9,500 million as Capital VGF, Rs. 300 million as NHA establishment charges and Rs. 500 million as contingencies ).
The project would be executed by National Highway Authority (NHA) and envisages construction of 306 Km long, 06 –lane wide, divided fenced between Hyderabad and Sukkur.
The approval of the project is subject to fulfillment of all codal formalities and approval of legislation from National Assembly.
The executive committee also considered and approved construction of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway (LSM) link Highway (04-Lane) connecting LSM to Narang Mandi and Kartarpur Narowal including Narowal Eastern Bypass at a revised rationalized cost of Rs. 17,379.949 million.
The revised project envisages rehabilitation, dualization and construction of 73- Kms long 04-lane dual carriageway, connecting Kartarpur with Lahore- Sialkot Motorway and Nankana. The project is to be completed in three years.
ECNEC also approved Punjab Urban Lane Systems Enhancement Project (PULSE) at a cost of Rs. 25,500 million with FEC of Rs. 1,378.756 million.
The project is to be executed by Board of Revenue (BoR) through Punjab Land Records Authority(PLRA) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to develop cadastral mapping including digital land records of urban, peri-urban and rural areas of entire Punjab. The project will be carried out through 100% loan by the World Bank in 60 months period.
ECNEC also approved project on construction of Northern section of ring road (Missing Link), from Warsak road to Nasir Bagh road with cost of Rs. 16,489.198 million and fully funded and executed by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The project envisages construction of 6 lane with total length of 8.7 kms to be completed in three years. The ECNEC further observed that projects fully funded by provinces with no foreign funding may be exempted from consideration by CDWP and ECNEC.
ECNEC approved revised project on construction of Mangi Dam in Baluchistan at a cost of Rs. 13,247.893 million located about 60 kms east of Quetta city on Khost river.
The federal government would bear only 50 % cost of original approved PC-I and increase in cost due to up-gradation of power supply grid station & transmission line.
Any other increase in cost will be borne by the province from its resources. The 61 m high concrete gravity dam has a gross reservoir capacity of 36.4 MCM and annual release of 13.4 MCM.
The main objective of the project is to reduce the existing shortfall in the water demand that is being faced by Quetta city. The proposed Mangi dam will enable a supply of 8.1 mgd to Quetta city.
ECNEC also gave approval to two projects in Karachi city, one “Restoration and revamping of Orangi Nullah” at revised cost of Rs. 15,007.25 million in Orangi Town, Karachi West district and other “Restoration and revamping of Gujjar Nullah” at revised cost of Rs. 14,854.40 million in Karachi Central district respectively.
Projects are being sponsored by NDMA and to be completed in 21 months, the statement added.