For 20 backwards and impoverished districts to undertake different uplift programmes over the course of 60 months in four provinces, the Ministry of Planning has established a special development project of Rs 40 billion.
The federal and provincial governments will split the anticipated cost of this project 50:50. The Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which is led by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, has given the project its approval.
18 billion rupees have already been out in PSDP 2022–23 for the project. The 20 districts that were chosen were based on scores from the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), and included 11 districts from Balochistan, 5 from Sindh, 3 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 1 from Punjab. Particularly in Balochistan and Sindh, several of these districts have been severely impacted by the recent flood calamity.
The 11 districts in Balochistan include Sherani, Kohlu, Jhal Magsi, Barkhan, Killa Abdullah, Zhob, Musakhel, Dera Bugti, Jaffarabad, Ziarat and Killa Saifullah. Five in Sindh — Sujawal, Thatta, Tharparkar, Kashmore and Badin and three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — Torghar, Shangla and North Waziristan and one district of Rajanpur in Punjab.
The tentative interventions in these districts will be in the areas of connectivity via roads, access to broadband services and the internet, solarization of off-grid areas, establishment of LPG terminals, development of the agri-livestock and mineral value-chain, tunnel framing, dairy farming, fish farming, etc., establishment of common border markets, investments in skill development, and student scholarships.
Additionally, the provincial and federal governments will choose sub-projects based on a thorough analysis of the requirements of the marginalised people in their respective regions. These initiatives will be approved by the relevant federal and provincial forums. Steering committees at the federal and provincial levels will oversee the sub-projects.
“This is the first of its kind project in the economic history of Pakistan where the federal government is undertaking a national intervention to uplift the poorest districts and address the disparity in economic development,” said the planning minister in a statement released on Saturday.