CDWP okays Rs173b BISP, CHASNUP III, IV

ISLAMABAD - A special meeting of Central Development Working Party (CDWP), said to be in-camera, on Monday considered three development projects with estimated cost of Rs 173 billion and forwarded its recommendations for approval to the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC).
Sources within the concerned circles said the special meeting of CDWP was held to discuss three development projects including Benazir's Income Support Scheme (BISP), CHASNUP III and IV. The project BISP would cost Rs 34 billion whereas the estimated cost of setting up of two nuclear power plants CHASHNUP III and CHASHNUP IV was Rs 139 billion, the sources added.
However, no official confirmation was available, as the Planning Commission (PC) kept the meeting secret. "It was in-camera briefing on these projects so no announcement will be made," a PC official stated when approached. The official said authorities didn't allow official media to cover the meeting and only the projects related officials were invited to explain the projects.
The three projects were cleared in principle. The PC, however, gave some observations on BISP stating that the government must make special allocation for the pro-poor project, as it couldn't be included in the overall development plan for the current fiscal.
Sources said the three projects were important and the concerned ministries had requested for the special meeting of the CDWP to consider them on priority basis. Due to power shortage, there is a need to start projects in power generation sector to help the government reduce the power demand and supply gap that has reached over 3,300 MW even when the electricity demand is not high due to winter season.