Ecnec approves four mega projects

[ghazi52]

Ecnec approves four mega projects

May 1, 2020

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Thursday approved four mega projects with estimated cost of Rs250 billion, including upward revised cost of over 185 percent for acquisition of land and resettlement plan for the Diamer Bhasha Dam.

Against the original cost of Rs60 billion, the Ecnec has now approved the revised cost of Rs175.43 billion for acquisition of land and resettlement plan for the much-awaited Bhasha Dam. This is another classic example of mismanagement how the cost escalated for projects of national importance. There is a need to fix responsibility who is responsible for such whopping escalation for acquisition of land and resettlement plan. The KP and Gilgit Baltistan governments are so far unable to resolve the lingering controversy over the ownership of piece of eight acres of land where the power stations of Bhasha Dam will be constructed.

According to official announcement, the Ecnec also considered the Diamer-Bhasha Dam Project (Acquisition of land and resettlement) and accorded in-principle approval to the project with the instruction to the Planning Division to further rationalise the cost on the pay and allowances component of the project.

Under the project to be completed at the cost of Rs175.43 billion, 30,350 people being displaced from 4,102 households of the project area would be resettled while land spread over 35,924 acres would also be acquired. Besides, provision of health facilities, establishment of educational institutions and improvement, implementation of Cultural Heritage Management Plan, Fisheries Management Plan, Camp Management Plan, Livelihood Interventions, Social Safety Net, Business Restoration Plan and socio-economic research studies would also be undertaken and completed under the project.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved four major projects at the cost of nearly Rs 250 billion in a meeting held on Thursday at the Cabinet Block with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair. The meeting discussed a proposal for the construction of Lodhran-Multan Section (North Bound 62 kms) of N-5 and construction of two flyovers at Railways Crossing at Lodhran Bypass and approved the project at the cost of Rs 12.434 billion. Under the project to be completed in 24 months, beside road two flyovers along with three interchanges at Super Chowk and Permit Chowk, Lodhran, and an interchange at the Bahawalpur Chowk, Multan, would be built. Besides, four minor bridges as well as reconstruction and widening of culverts and urban area improvement at Basti Malook, Multan City and Larr Town would also be carried out under the project.

 

[ghazi52]

The ECNEC also approved a project titled ‘Punjab Human Capital Investment Project’ at the cost of Rs 32 billion to strengthen primary health facilities, introduce conditional cash transfer program to encourage the poor to access the health and nutrition support, support economic inclusion for young parents with children for poverty alleviation and expand and strengthen early childhood education. The project to be completed in five years would be rolled out in 11 less-developed districts of Punjab, including Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Bhakkar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khushab, Layyah, Lodhran, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan and Rajanpur.

The ECNEC also considered and approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project (KP-IAIP) at the cost of Rs30 billion for improvement of 14,260 water courses, installation of 10,000 acres high-efficiency irrigation system, construction of 5,000 water storage tanks, provision of 500 laser land levelers, capacity building, strategic studies and value addition, and project management and monitoring.

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[Shahzaz ud din]

Government ECNEC okays projects worth Rs250b

ECNEC okays projects worth Rs250b

Gives conditional approval to Diamer-Bhasha dam land acquisition project
ISLAMABAD: Despite expressing serious reservations about inflated expenditures, the federal government on Thursday conditionally approved the Diamer-Bhasha dam land acquisition project for Rs175 billion, which was triple the original estimate.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved four major projects costing nearly Rs250 billion, including in-principle approval for the Diamer-Bhasha land acquisition scheme, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the Ecnec meeting.

The water resources ministry had sought approval for a second revision in the cost of the Diamer-Bhasha land acquisition project to Rs175.4 billion.

“Ecnec considered the Diamer-Bhasha dam project (acquisition of land and resettlement) and accorded in-principle approval to the project with instruction to the Planning Division to further rationalise the cost of pay and allowances component of the project,” said the finance ministry.

The project had been originally approved in 2008 for Rs60 billion. Then the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government revised its cost to Rs101 billion in 2015 because locals had not accepted the land acquisition price offered by the government.

But the water resources ministry again pushed the project cost to Rs175.4 billion, which was 291% higher than the 2008 price. On April 15, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) referred to the Diamer-Bhasha dam land acquisition project for Rs175 billion to Ecnec.

Sources said the finance adviser expressed serious reservations about the surge in the cost.

Planning Minister Asad Umar was of the view that his responsibility was to the extent of resolving a dispute between Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments related to the Diamer-Bhasha dam construction. The project had been evaluated by a team led by the Planning Commission deputy chairman.

Shaikh objected to the 683% increase in the cost of pay and allowances. In 2008, Rs721 million had been approved for pay and allowances but in the second revised PC-1, Rs5.7 billion was allocated to cover the expense.

The land compensation cost increased only 105% compared with the overall three-time increase in the project cost. As against the original allocation of Rs26.4 billion, the revised allocation for the land is Rs54.3 billion. However, the resettlement cost, which was Rs9.3 billion in 2008, has now been shown at Rs67.7 billion, higher by 627%.



The finance ministry said under the project, 30,350 people being displaced from 4,102 households in the project area would be resettled while land spread over 35,924 acres would also be acquired.

Ecnec also approved the construction of the Lodhran-Multan section (north-bound 62 km) of N-5 and construction of two flyovers at the railway crossing at Lodhran Bypass for Rs12.4 billion.

Under the project, which will be completed in 24 months, besides two road flyovers, three interchanges at the Super Chowk and Permit Chowk, Lodhran, and an interchange at the Bahawalpur Chowk, Multan would also be built.

The reconstruction of the existing two-lane north-bound and construction of flyovers, interchanges, and area improvements would help reduce traffic hazards and congestion on the project road and after completion of the project, a safe, reliable, and efficient road facility would be available to commuters.

Ecnec also approved a project titled “Punjab Human Capital Investment Project” for Rs32 billion to strengthen primary healthcare facilities, introduce a conditional cash transfer programme to encourage the poor to access health and nutrition support, support economic inclusion for the young parents with children for poverty alleviation and expand and strengthen early childhood education.

The project, to be completed in five years, would be rolled out in 11 less-developed districts of Punjab, including Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Bhakkar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khushab, Layyah, Lodhran, Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Rahimyar Khan, and Rajanpur.

Ecnec gave the green-light to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project for Rs30 billion for the improvement of 14,260 watercourses, installation of high-efficiency irrigation system for 10,000 acres, construction of 5,000 water storage tanks, provision of 500 laser land levelers, capacity building, strategic studies and value addition, and project management and monitoring.

The project, to be completed in six years, would be rolled out in all 26 districts of the province.
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[ghazi52]

Around 10000 MW cheap electricity will come online from hydel around 2025, so it will definitely help..

But it is also a fact, 10000MW Peak which will only be realized for 2-3 months every year. If we go by the usual capacity factor of 40% over a year, we are only looking at 4000MW of electricity. And we will also have to arrange a secondary power source to cater for the minimal 10-20% production in winters. Moreover, these supposedly cheap HPPs will not be cheap due to loan repayments, just look at NJHPP. The current interim unit price alone is horrific at Rs 9.1184/unit!

Nuclear would be the best alternative considering its second cheapest source with highest capacity factor but we are far behind on that front so it will most certainly be fossil fuels (the coal plants being more expensive than our run of the mill IPPs), thus we are not going to get out of this evil cycle of extremely expensive energy augmenting our electric needs anytime soon.

 

[Affanakad0t.]

When will ecnec approve anything for karachi?