Islamabad:

On Wednesday, the government approved conditional the construction of the DASU Vandraft project at 240% higher costs of RS1.74 trillion and also decided to build a new border crossing item in Wagah with India.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), which made the decisions, also approved the construction of 30 anti-smuggling positions along River Indus and in Balochistan at a price of RS15 billion.

ECNEC took 10 projects for approval costs RS2.1 trillion, including the construction of the DASU Hydropower project as an extra agenda. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar was chairman of the Executive Committee Meeting, which has the mandate to approve MEGA development schemes.

ECNEC approved conditional the revised DASU project at a record cost of RS1.7 trillion or $ 6.2 billion. Last month, the planning minister had called costs an “astronomical increase” of 240%.

The conditional approval has been given to facilitate loan negotiations with foreign lenders. It was also decided that a helicopter will be acquired in accordance with the Cabinet Secretary’s supervision for secure travel by Chinese contractors in the DASU Hydropower project. A planning commission committee would still cultivate project costs, according to the officials.

Compared to the original costs, there was a massive leap on RS1.3 trillion in hydropower project costs with the cost per year. Unit for the supposedly cheapest water -based power production scheme now comes to RS8.79. The original project costs were RS479 billion.

At the central development of the working group, the planning minister Ahsan Iqbal had stated that they had instructed third-party validation of the astronomical increase in the revised PC-I.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday did not comment on Wednesday the questions about the approval of the DASU Hydropower project as an additional agenda and the construction of a new border crossing with India.

The $ 6.2 billion project is now almost equal to the cost of $ 6.7 billion by building a railway track from Karachi to Peshawar under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The project was planned to generate 2,160 MW electricity, and the government now needs more foreign and local loans. WAPDA was in negotiations with the World Bank for a new $ 1 billion loan. Loan of $ 1 billion will be a mixture of expensive and concession loans. The World Bank has already given a loan of $ 517 million for the project.

The government will also receive a foreign commercial loan of $ 400 million by spending the World Bank guarantees. It will also search for RS350 billion in domestic commercial loans.

The government had previously ordered an inquiry to determine the reason for cost -withdrawal, but it did not fix the responsibility on any single unit or individual and pointed numbers on Chinese contractors, WAPDA and the planning commission.

The query had also blamed the local administration of Kohistan district for a delay in acquisition of land. It said the costs were increased by RS48 billion due to improved security schemes after two deadly attacks on the Chinese contractors. The impact of the security event was hardly 3.8% in the total cost of the cost.

ECNEC approved the construction of a new border crossing in Wagah with India. The government is already implementing a project with the loan to the Development Bank to construct border crossing points along the border between Afghanistan.

Last July, the committee had decided that a similar post would also be built at a key transition point with India, the Wagah border. With a cost of RS95.5 billion, two locations have already been constructed at Torkham and Chaman International Borders.

The contract for Wagah Post will be given through competitive bids, according to the decision.

ECNEC had asked the Ministry of Planning to give his recommendation whether to build the Wagah border crossing site under the government agreement or through internationally competitive bids. The committee informed ECNEC that the experience of the existing contract, documentary evidence provided by FBR, comparative analysis of benefits and degradations of Open and the government-to-government contract, ADB’s procurement regulation and public procurement rules, it advised to provide contract through competitive bids.

ECNEC also approved the construction of 30 anti-smuggling checkpoints along River Indus, Hub and in Balochistan with a cost of almost RS15 billion. The Federal Board of Revenue admitted to ECNEC that the conventional anti-smuggling methods have failed to produce results and that the economy maintained the RS750 billion income loss due to smuggling.

The project aims to establish digital and mobile enforcement stations (DES) along with upgraded check-posts to limit smuggling, improve tax revenue, promote formal trade and strengthen border security through technology-driven enforcement. The scope of the work includes the development of 10 des places in Balochistan along with 11 small, 6 media and 3 large DES places across designated places.

ECNEC approved Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project Phase-II at a price of RS12.2 billion. Phase-II imagines the restoration and rehabilitation of 146 kilometers long 19-roads in four-districts that are affected by the floods.

ECNEC approved a revised project for repairing 100 locomotives for cost RS16 billion. It also sanctioned a project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the revised costs of RS113 billion for rural accessibility to markets, education and health facilities through rehabilitation of the rural road network measuring 878 km.

The Mangi Dam to RS19 billion revised costs were approved. The main goal of the project is to reduce the existing deficit in the water’s demand, which is currently facing Quetta City. At present, the estimated availability of drinking water in the Quetta Valley is much less than at least 15 liters per liter. Per capita per. Day. Adoption of a water consumption of 20 gallon per Per capita per. Day is estimated at the current water requirement in Quetta to be 40.9 mgd (76.0 CUSSCS). The proposed Mangi Dam will enable a supply of 8.1 mgd (15.1 CUSSCS) to Quetta City.

ECNEC approved the project, namely “Sindh Early Learning Enhancement through classroom transformation” worth RS46.6 billion. The project is proposed to be funded through Sindh’s World Bank and Government. The project aims to tackle gaps in the critical delivery page using a combination of result-based financing and traditional expenses-based mechanisms to improve school accessibility, teaching and learning results throughout the province.

ECNEC also approved 220 kV transmission system network reinforcement in Islamabad and the Burhan area worth the RS11.3 billion. The main goal of the project is to improve the capacity of the national transmission system to remove the transmission restrictions to meet the growing demand for demand for IESCO and also for reliable spread of the coming generation from Tarbela 5. Extension Project.