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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday approved seven development projects worth Rs15.174 billion ($54.3 million) and referred four larger schemes costing Rs108.16 billion ($387.1 million) to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for final approval, according to an official statement. The meeting, chaired by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, reviewed projects spanning education, health, information technology and energy under the government&rsquo;s URAAN Pakistan reform agenda. &ldquo;The initiatives cover key sectors including education, health, IT and energy,&rdquo; the planning ministry said in a statement after the meeting. Education and youth initiatives The CDWP approved Rs4.687 billion ($16.77 million) for establishing a Daanish School in Haveli-Kahuta in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. During the meeting, Iqbal instructed the Ministry of Education to review financial planning for the project. &ldquo;Iqbal directed the Ministry of Education to rationalize costs and provide a multi-year financial plan to ensure operational stability,&rdquo; the statement said. In the higher education sector, the forum approved a Rs1.846 billion ($6.6 million) initiative to support students with physical disabilities. The scheme will provide electric wheelchairs, laptops for visually impaired students and other audio-visual learning aids. The facility will be limited to full-time students enrolled in public sector universities. Two healthcare initiatives were reviewed during the session. The committee approved the Rs1.335 billion ($4.78 million) National Health Support Programme for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while recommending a Rs7.931 billion ($28 million) project to upgrade the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Hafizabad to ECNEC for final consideration. During the review, Iqbal raised concerns about jurisdictional responsibility for the Hafizabad project. &ldquo;Iqbal noted the Hafizabad project falls under provincial jurisdiction,&rdquo; the statement said. The forum decided that the Government of Punjab would bear any additional financial liability and reimburse federal funds released beyond the mandated federal share. The CDWP also recommended several energy efficiency initiatives funded by the World Bank. These include Rs19.016 billion ($68 million) for the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) and Rs30.255 billion ($108.3 million) for the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), both of which were forwarded to ECNEC for approval. Separately, the committee approved a Rs3.781 billion ($13.5 million) hydropower and renewable energy project in Gilgit-Baltistan. In the agriculture sector, a Rs50.956 billion ($182.4 million) irrigated agriculture development project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was also recommended to ECNEC. According to the planning ministry, the project will rehabilitate 14,260 watercourses and introduce high-efficiency irrigation systems across 11,650 acres, with significant funding from the World Bank. The forum approved a Rs185.691 million ($664,562) initiative to digitize rural land records in Islamabad to improve transparency in land administration. Other approvals included the construction of a new administrative block for the Supreme Court Branch Registry in Quetta and a revised Rs3.106 billion ($11 million) cost for the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Academy in Islamabad.

An aerial view shows the USAID-funded Pakistani non-profit HANDS water supply plant in Jacobabad in southern Sindh province on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

Economy

Pakistan’s planning ministry cleared projects in education, healthcare, renewable energy and digital governance, including disability support in universities and irrigation upgrades, while sending major power efficiency and agriculture initiatives to the national economic council for final approval.

Pakistan approves $54M development projects, refers $387M schemes

RABAT:&nbsp;Morocco&#39;s GenZ 212 youth collective said Saturday it was temporarily suspending protests after two weeks of demonstrations calling for reforms in health and education. The weekend pause was &quot;a strategic step to strengthen organization and coordination, so the next phase of the movement is more effective and influential&quot;, the group said in a statement. Discord platform&nbsp;GenZ 212 said its demands were unchanged, citing &quot;accountability for the corrupt&quot; and government responsibility for worsening social and economic conditions. A new call for mobilization would be announced later Saturday, it said, adding the next protest would &quot;target the government and all those blocking the aspirations of the Moroccan people&quot;. Formed in late September, GenZ 212 has built a large online following, with more than 200,000 members on the Discord platform. Deaths of pregnant women&nbsp;Its rallies, held almost nightly across the North African country, have attracted crowds ranging from dozens to several hundred people. The protests erupted after the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a public hospital in Agadir, in southern Morocco, sparked anger over conditions in the health sector. GenZ 212 has appealed directly to King Mohammed VI to deliver reforms. &lsquo;A steady path&rsquo;&nbsp;In a speech on Friday, the monarch urged the government to accelerate development in education and health, without directly referring to the protests. He said Morocco was &quot;paving a steady path toward greater social and territorial justice&quot;, and called for special attention to the country&#39;s poorest regions.

Middle East

Says weekend pause "a strategic step to strengthen organization and coordination, so the next phase of the movement is more effective and influential"; new call for mobilization to be announced later Saturday.

Articles tagged with "Health and Education"

Pakistan approves $54M development projects, refers $387M schemes

Morocco's GenZ 212 says suspending protests temporarily