Central Development Working Party clears five projects worth over Rs60 billion
• Plans include Gwadar water scheme, Karachi neighbourhood project, Gilgit medical college, NDU campus and Orakzai road ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has cleared five development projects involving an estimated cost of over Rs60 billion, including a multi-billion-rupee water supply project to provide water from Mirani Dam to Gwadar through a 125-kilometre pipeline. The CDWP meeting, presided over by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, approved three development projects with a combined estimated cost of Rs11.7bn. It recommended two other projects worth Rs48.545bn for approval by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), including the procedural clearance of the Rs19.55bn Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project (KNIP), which is already nearing completion with a World Bank loan. Under the current financial rules approved by the National Economic Council (NEC), the CDWP is empowered to approve projects costing up to Rs7.5bn, while projects with higher estimated costs are approved by Ecnec on the recommendations of the CDWP after technical clearance. Based on a technical evaluation by the Planning Commission, the CDWP recommended reducin
