ECNEC approves PM Imran's nine national agricultural programs

ECNEC would now only approve plans worth more than Rs10 billion.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - ) The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Thursday approved the project to plant three billion trees under which 30 million fruit plants will be planted along with other eight projects of Prime Minister Imran Khan to fight the national agricultural emergency.

At the meeting of the ECNEC chaired by Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, nine projects of the Prime Minister’s 5-year National Agricultural Emergency Program were approved. They also include wheat, rice and sugarcane production, oil seed programs and shrimp farming projects.

It was decided at the meeting that ECNEC would now only approve plans worth more than Rs10 billion instead of three whereas any plan less than that would be approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) now.

Save the Calf scheme was also approved at the meeting. It has been estimated that about six to seven million buffalo/cattle male calves are available for fattening in the Punjab province. But majority of these calves are sent to slaughter at one to three weeks of age. Some calves are raised to 60-80 kg on extremely poor and unbalanced diets.

If these calves are saved and raised on balanced fattening diets based on crop residues and agro-industrial by-products to gain live-weight of 250-300 kg, it is estimated that total beef production could be doubled.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme Phase-I at a cost of Rs 125.184 billion for plantation of 3.30 billion saplings including 10% fruit trees across the country besides other projects worth Rs 454 billion.

The project would help promoting eco-tourism, conserving and developing forests, increasing income of local people from the sale of forest products, increasing rangelands & pastures, enhancing protective functions of watersheds for regulating their water regime, promote local flora and fauna and manage national wildlife parks, sanctuaries and national biosphere reserves.

The ECNEC also approved Construction of BRT Red Line Project Karachi at a cost of Rs 78.384 billion to develop a dedicated corridor of 24.2 km from Numaish to Malir Halt Depot and a common corridor of 2.4 km from Municipal Park to Merewether Tower along MA Jinnah Road with a view to enhancing the quality of public transport, shift motor vehicle users to public transport and reduce traffic congestion in the city.

Out of the total 26.6 km length of corridor, 22.45 km would be at grade section, 1.72 km elevated and 2.43 km underground section. The project also includes construction of 29 bus stations, 8 off-corridor routes, including direct and feeder services, procurement of 199 buses using bio-methane gas from cattle waste as fuel and comprising three types 9m, 12m and 18m, provision of ITS equipment and security systems and allied equipments.

The ECNEC also approved 500 KV HVDC Transmission System between Tajikistan and Pakistanfor Central Asia-South Asia Transmission Interconnection (CASA-1000) project at a cost of Rs 46.804 billion to provide reliable and uninterrupted power supply to consumer and to export any surplus power to other countries.

The Committee approved Sehat Sahulat Programme covering 2.7 million families all over Pakistanat a cost of Rs 31.935 billion to improve the health status of the population by providing it quality healthcare and enhancing coverage and access t secondary & priority indoor treatment of the poorand vulnerable population.

In order to improve water resources and quality of sewerage system in Karachi, the ECNEC also approved Karachi Water & Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP) Phase-I at a cost of US$ 105.21 million (Rs 16.708 billion). The project will facilitate and improve the capacity of Karachi Water & Sewerage board in the provision of improved water and sanitation services to the residents of Karachi and to carry out routine functions o operation & management of infrastructure and facilities.

The ECNEC also approved the Sindh Secondary education Improvement Program (SSEIP) to be implemented all over Sindh at a cost of Rs 13.

103 billion for the construction of new secondary schools in 160 existing Primary schools, to impart training to 2630 teachers in five major subjects and 485 BISE staff and to provide lab equipment to 660 schools.

The ECNEC also granted approval to a project for Interconnection of Isolated Gwadar/Makran Area with national Grid System of Pakistan at a cost of Rs 17.421 billion to provide adequate facilities for reliable and stable supply of power to the Gwadar area.

The ECNEC also approved a proposal for revision of sanctioning powers of ECNEC for considering projects costing over Rs 10 billion, CDWP for projects from Rs 3 billion to Rs 10 billion and Federal level DDWP for projects from Rs 60 million to Rs 2 billion, and further allowed submission of the summary to the Prime Minister for implementation till a formal approval of the proposal by NEC.

The government‘s agenda for enhancing agriculture productivity, improving water management, making Pakistan green, giving Karachi a face-lift and introducing decentralized decision-making dominated the proceedings of Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) which met here at the Cabinet Block to mull and approve various development projects worth about Rs 579 billion today.

The meeting approved National Programme for Improvement of Watercourse in Pakistan Phase-II to be undertaken in all federating units at a cost of Rs 154.542 billion for capacity building of 76,359 Water User Associations for participatory irrigation management, improvement of 59,427 watercourses across the country and construction of 16,932 water storage tanks and ponds at the farm level with the larger goal of curbing water losses, social mobilization through capacity building of Water Users Associations, minimization of conveyance and field application losses, reduction in water-logging and salinity, equity in water distribution, reduction in water disputes, thefts & litigation, poverty reduction through employment generation and increase in crop yields and sufficiency in food.

The ECNEC further approved eight major projects related to the agriculture sector at a cost of about Rs 95 billion, including Productivity Enhancement of Wheat at Rs 30.455 billion, Productivity Enhancement of Rice at Rs 15.789 billion, Productivity Enhancement of Sugarcane at Rs 4.935 billion, National Oilseeds Enhancement Programme (NOEP) at Rs 10.963 billion, Cage Culture Cluster Development Programme at Rs 9.081 billion, Pilot Shrimp Farming Cluster Development Project at Rs 6.160 billion, Water Conservation in Barani Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Rs 14.178 billion and Prime Minister‘s Initiative for Save the Calf at Rs 3.401 billion.