The news comes courtesy of Asad Umar, Federal Minister of Planning and Development, who took to Twitter to announce that the mega healthcare project was approved.
“ECNEC approved Rs. 70 billion, the largest health care project ever undertaken by the federal government,” he tweeted. “The project includes 45 billion for new health care facilities, 7 billion for national health surveillance, 13 billion for less developed areas of water sanitation & hygiene & interventions,” he further said.
During an ECNEC meeting presided over by Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Thursday, the momentous decision to approve the project was made.
The ECNEC committee, spread through different provinces, also approved other major projects of note.
Phase II of the ‘Pak-China Optic Fiber Cable (OFC)’ project worth Rs37.9 billion was approved by the committee to create a cross-border OFC network (Khunjerab-Karachi) along the routes of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The project will provide an alternative route to global connectivity.
The Committee approved Package IV for Balochistan, i.e. the building of 100 dams in Balochistan at an overall cost of Rs13,5 billion. The project will be carried out within three years by the Balochistan Irrigation Department.
The project is planned to harness flood flows through the construction of small dams across the province for direct irrigation, groundwater recharge, and agricultural production.
For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, at a total cost of Rs18.9 billion, the committee approved KP’s human capital investment programme. The project was funded by the World Bank/IDA and aims to improve the infrastructure for basic education in the Peshawar, Haripur, Nowshera, and Swabi districts.
