The government approved 11 projects worth 472 billion

Islamabad: The federal government approved 11 projects worth Rs 472 billion.

Despite the acute shortage of financial resources, the federal government on Wednesday approved 11 projects worth Rs 472 billion, including essential post-flood rehabilitation projects and some schemes with political interests, aimed at urban and rural areas. It is to win the sympathies of the rural voters.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved these schemes. In addition, ECNIC rationalized the cost of the Flood Response Emergency Housing Project in Sindh Province to Rs 160 billion, which was earlier approved in haste at an inflated cost of Rs 330 billion. was

Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presided over the "ECNIC" meeting held yesterday. Eknik also approved National Development Internship. 20,000 internships planned to counter PTI's youth narrative

However, the stipend will be paid from the contingency budget of approved schemes, which may create financial problems for these projects. According to the announcement of the Ministry of Finance, this program is in line with the vision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to bring the youth into the mainstream and involve them in national development. The expenditure of the program will be met from the development projects under PSDP.

ECNIC also approved the Prime Minister's Youth Laptop Scheme HEC- (Phase-III) at a cost of Rs 10.9 billion to study in public sector higher education institutions across the country including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Opportunities can be provided to the young and talented students. Under the Phase III project, 100,000 laptops will be distributed to meritorious students in two years.

ECNIC also approved the flood response emergency housing project at a reasonable cost of Rs 160 billion, including a loan of US$ 500 million from the World Bank to help flood-affected people in Sindh.

It should be remembered that earlier the same project was approved in haste with a cost of 330 billion rupees, in which now the total cost has been reduced by 170 billion rupees to a new estimate of 160 billion rupees. The World Bank has already approved a loan of $500 million for the scheme.

ECNIC has also sanctioned overseas scholarships for MS and MPhil for pursuing PhD in selected fields at a cost of Rs 22.2 billion to provide opportunities for young Pakistani scholars to pursue higher education. .