ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party, chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal, approved three projects outright at Rs11.714 billion combined. It pushed two far bigger schemes, worth Rs48.545 billion together, up to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for final approval. A news release framed all five as part of the government's Uraan Pakistan reform agenda, built around human capital, infrastructure and inclusive growth.

CDWP Development Projects Move Forward

The approvals themselves tell a story about where Pakistan's development priorities sit right now and which regions have waited the longest to see them funded.

Take the Medical & Nursing College in Gilgit. The project got its go-ahead at a revised cost of Rs4.924 billion, nine years after it first launched in 2017. Iqbal pushed for the project to expand healthcare training in remote, mountainous areas where skilled staff remain scarce, and ordered officials to finish it without further delay, pointing directly at chronic underfunding as the reason it stalled this long.

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The National Defence University's new FCS Campus at Defence Complex Islamabad cleared the board at Rs2.753 billion. Iqbal used the moment to push a broader agenda: he directed universities to align research with national targets a $1 trillion economy and $100 billion in exports by 2035 and told officials to formalize that push through a memorandum of understanding. He also wants Planning Ministry staff enrolled in relevant training programmes, arguing universities owe the country evidence-based answers to real policy problems.

Then there's Orakzai. The CDWP approved a Rs4.037 billion road linking Zera to Daboori, stretching 53.4 kilometers through a district that has waited since 2016 for the connection. Iqbal ordered the remaining funds released before winter sets in, calling the road proof of federal commitment to Pakistan's merged tribal districts.

Karachi Project Faces Scrutiny

The two projects still awaiting ECNEC sign-off carry far heavier price tags. Karachi's Neighborhood Improvement Project, revised to Rs19.545 billion, would run on foreign financing with Sindh's provincial government covering the local share. Iqbal isn't taking that funding structure lightly he ordered a dedicated committee, pulling in the Member for Population, the Member for Infrastructure and an Economic Affairs Division representative, to build monitoring and accountability mechanisms before any foreign money moves.

Gwadar's water crisis got the greatest scrutiny of the day. The Rs29 billion scheme to pipe water from Mirani Dam heads to ECNEC next, but Iqbal didn't just wave it through procedurally he ordered Balochistan's provincial government to study wastewater treatment options too, warning that Gwadar cannot become a city that dumps untreated sewage into the sea. He let the project advance to bidding to save time, but blocked any contract award until ECNEC formally approves it.

Whether these projects move at the pace Iqbal is demanding, or join the queue of delayed schemes he keeps citing as cautionary tales, depends now on how fast ECNEC acts 1and how strictly the new accountability mechanisms actually get enforced once foreign funds start flowing.