CDWP to Okay Four Development Projects in Baluchistan worth Rs241bn Today

ISLAMABAD: Four development projects at an estimated cost of Rs241 billion are anticipated to be undertaken by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP). These projects include two highly contentious road projects in Baluchistan for Rs43 billion and two significant water sector projects that have been undertaken worth Rs177 billion. The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission will chair the CDWP meeting on Tuesday (today). Among other topics, the committee will discuss a Rs43 billion road project in Baluchistan. 

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The Rs43 billion "construction of Mashkhel-Pangoor Road (including an additional link from Pak-Iran border to Chedgai, Balochistan)" is another such project that was proposed before the CDWP. The National Highway Authority (NHA) routed the 192-kilometer road through the SIFC on September 22, 2023, at an estimated cost of Rs29.95 billion, designating it as a "priority project" that would link the Riko Diq Project with Gwadar Port.

The Planning Commission's Transport and Communication (T&C) and Infrastructure & Regional Connectivity (I&RC) departments, among others, have vehemently opposed the project based on legal, financial, and technical objections. They have also highlighted how the project's executing agencies—in this case, the NHA—were eschewing procedural and technical requirements.