ECNEC okays Karachi's Orangi, Gujjar nullahs revamp projects

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), in its meeting chaired by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, approved various infrastructure projects worth Rs396 billion, including the restoration of Karachi’s Orangi and Gujjar nullahs and construction of Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway project, ARY News reported.

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 a statement, two projects relating to the Restoration and Revamping of Orangi Nullah at a revised cost of Rs15bn in Orangi Town and the Restoration and Revamping of Gujjar Nullah at a revised cost of Rs14.854bn were approved by Ecnec.

Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway

The meeting also approved the construction of the Hyderabad–Sukkur Motorway on Built Operate Transfer (BOT) basis with revised cost of Rs. 308.2 billion.

In the motorway project, the government’s share is Rs10.3 billion – Rs9.5 billion as capital, Rs300 million as the National Highway Authority (NHA) establishment charges and Rs500 million as contingencies. The project will be executed by the NHA.

The project envisages construction of 306km-long six-lane motorway between Hyderabad and Sukkur with divided fence. Ecnec said that the approval was subjected to fulfilment of all codal formalities and approval of the legislation from the National Assembly.

Ecnec also approved the construction of the four-lane Lahore-Sialkot Motorway (LSM) link highway, connecting the motorway to Narang Mandi and Kartarpur, Narowal, including the Narowal Eastern Bypass at a revised rationalised cost of Rs17.4 billion.

Ecnec also approved the Punjab Urban Lane Systems Enhancement Project (PULSE) at a cost of Rs25.5 billion. The project will be executed by the Board of Revenue (BoR) through the Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

Ecnec approved another project of the construction of northern section of the ring road – the missing link – from Warsak road to Nasir Bagh road at a cost of Rs16.5 billion. The project is fully funded and executed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.