ISLAMABAD, May 20 : Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives/Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) that approved a total of ten development projects, amounting to Rs 249.17 billion.
“Out of these, four projects with a cumulative cost of Rs21.83 billion were approved at the CDWP level. Additionally, six major projects, amounting to approximately Rs227.34 billion, were recommended to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for final consideration and approval,” a news release said.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Planning Awais Manzur Sumra, along with Chief Economist, VC PIDE, other members of the Planning Commission, Federal Secretaries, heads of Provincial Planning & Development (P&D) departments, and senior representatives from relevant Federal Ministries and Provincial Governments.
The forum approved a project related to Information Technology namely “Expansion of Safe City, Islamabad (New)” worth Rs 7499.339 million, to be financed through PSDP.
Under the project, 100 percent all major areas including major roads, religious places, VVIP areas and government buildings, Entry/Exist and other important points would be covered as currently 35% of Islamabad is under surveillance.
It also approved a project of Higher Education sector namely “Establishment of National Center for Quantum Computing (NCQC) – (New)” worth Rs 3318.363 million.
While thoroughly discussing the project, Ahsan Iqbal emphasized it was essential to securing the country’s technological sovereignty and enhancing its future global competitiveness.
He said that quantum computing held transformative potential in fields such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, drug discovery, and climate modeling.
A dedicated center would foster cutting-edge research, build a skilled talent pool, and promote innovation across key economic sectors, the minister said, adding as major powers rapidly advance in this field, Pakistan must act to avoid strategic and technological lag.
He said that the center would also enable public-private-academic collaboration, positioning Pakistan to harness quantum technologies for national security, economic development, and scientific leadership in era of the fourth industrial revolution.
This initiative builds on the strategic vision of Professor Ahsan Iqbal, who laid the foundation for Pakistan’s digital future by establishing National Centers in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Robotics & Automation, and Cybersecurity. These centers have served as catalysts for capacity building, talent development, and the integration of digital technologies across academia and industry.
The CDWP referred a project related to Higher Education sector presented namely “Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) (Revised)” to ECNEC with a revised cost of Rs 21190.777 million.
Besides, it referred a project “Dualization of Sargodha–Khushab–Mianwali Road (60.43 km) in District Khushab – (Revised),” to ECNEC for further consideration at a revised cost of Rs. 11,806.516 million.
Another project of T&C sector namely “Development of a Controlled Access Corridor Facility from Niazi Interchange to Babu Sabu Interchange, Lahore (New)” worth Rs. 10842.253 million was referred to ECNEC for further consideration.
The forum forwarded a project namely “Dualization of Road from Gujranwala to M-2 Interchange at Kot Sarwar via Hafizabad Length (70.5 Km) (Revised)” to ECNEC for further consideration at a revised cost of Rs13230.672 million.
A project of Pakistan Railways was also presented and approved “Rehabilitation of Track Maintenance Machines (Revised)” worth Rs 5312.876 million by the forum.
The CDWP referred a project namely “Reconstruction of National Highway N-5 under Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery and Reconstruction Framework Project, Phase-I 210 Km (New)” worth Rs. 155408.403 million to ECNEC for further consideration.
The forum forwarded a project namely “Dalization of Road from Chishtian to Chak No 46/3R via Dahrnawala (41.154 km) including Two Lane Link Road from Dahrnawala to Chak 175M (4.859 km) – (Revised)” worth Rs 14859.054 million to ECNEC for further consideration.
It also approved a project namely “IPF Component for Punjab Clean Air Program (PCAP) (New)” worth Rs5700.351 million by the forum.
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