CDWP Approves Establishment of National Center for Quantum Computing

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP), in a meeting chaired by the Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, approved a total of ten development projects. Out of these, four projects with a cumulative cost of Rs. 21.83 billion were approved at the CDWP level. Additionally, six major projects, amounting to approximately Rs. 227.34 billion, were recommended to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for final consideration and approval. The meeting was attended by Awais Manzur Sumra, Secretary Planning, 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 agenda focused on development projects across key sectors, including Transport & Communications, Environment, Higher Education and Information Technology. A project related to Information Technology presented in the meeting namely “Expansion of Safe City, Islamabad (New)” worth Rs. 7,499.339 million approved by the CDWP forum. A project of Higher Education sector presented namely “Establishment of National Center for Quantum Computing (NCQC) – (New)” worth Rs. 3,318.363 million approved by the forum. Another project related to Higher Education sector presented in the forum namely “Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) (Revised)” was referred to ECNEC with a revised cost of Rs. 21,190.777 million. Six Transport and Communication projects were presented during the meeting, including the “Dualization of Sargodha–Khushab–Mianwali Road (60.43 km) in District Khushab – (Revised),” which was referred to ECNEC for further consideration at a revised cost of Rs. 11,806.516 million. Another project of T&C sector presented namely “Development of a Controlled Access Corridor Facility from Niazi Interchange to Babu Sabu Interchange, Lahore (New)” worth Rs. 10,842.253 million referred to ECNEC for further consideration. Another project of the T&C sector presented namely “Dualization of Road from Gujranwala to M-2 Interchange at Kot Sarwar via Hafizabad Length (70.5 Km) (Revised)” which was referred to ECNEC for further consideration at a revised cost of Rs. 13,230.672 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. A project related to T&C sector presented in the meeting namely “Reconstruction of National Highway N-5 under Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery and Reconstruction Framework Project, Phase-I 210 Km (New)” worth Rs. 155,408.403 million referred to ECNEC for further consideration. A project related to T&C sector presented in the meeting namely “Dualization 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. 14,859.054 million referred to ECNEC for further consideration. A project related to Environment sector presented in the meeting namely “IPF Component for Punjab Clean Air Program (PCAP) (New)” worth Rs. 5,700.351 million was approved by the forum.