Ecnec approves seven projects worth Rs446bn

Ahead of the completion of the constitutional term of the government, the Executive Committee of the Economic Council (Ecnec) on Wednesday cont­inued approving seven more projects worth Rs446 billion and revised another Rs377bn worth of solarisation project for countrywide tube wells. Last week too, Ecnec approved six projects with an estimated cost of Rs1.077 trillion. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presided over the meeting attended by Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, special assistants to Prime Minister Tariq Bajwa and Tariq Pasha besides federal secretaries and provincial representatives. Ecnec approved the Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme to be executed by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Islamabad at a rationalised cost of Rs16.8bn including a foreign exchange component (FEC) of Rs15.166bn. The project is to be financed by the federal government and to be completed within two years i.e. 2023-2025.