Asad Umar stresses completion of maximum number of HEC projects by 2023

• The HEC informs Rs42.45 billion have been allocated for the completion of 168 projects under the PSDP 2021.
• The budget includes Rs29.74bn for 128 ongoing projects and Rs12.71bn for 40 new projects.
• As many as 75 ongoing projects will be completed by June 2023, says HEC.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives (PD&SI) Asad Umar has stressed the completion of the maximum number of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) projects by the end of this and next fiscal year.

Umar was jointly chairing the meeting with the Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training (FE&PT) Shafqat Mehmood to review the progress of the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2021-22 under the portfolio of HEC.

The HEC informed the meeting that Rs42.45 billion have been allocated for the completion of 168 projects under the PSDP 2021.

According to the HEC’s briefing, this budget includes Rs29.74bn for 128 ongoing projects and Rs12.71bn for 40 new projects.

The total cost of 168 projects is Rs347.4bn and the expenditure incurred on these projects till June 2021 is Rs116.92bn, whereas the throw-forward is Rs230.48bn, the HEC explained.

The HEC informed the meeting that the breakup of these projects reveals that 112 ongoing projects are of universities, while 16 are ongoing scholarships schemes.

As per HEC, 75 ongoing projects will be completed by June 2023. A total of Rs15bn have been earmarked for these projects, costing Rs108bn in total with a throw-forward of 40bn.

The HEC said that this allocation needs to be revised to Rs17.5 billion, an additional Rs2.5 billion for FY 2021-22, and a remaining Rs22.5 for FY 2022-23.

The federal ministers appreciated the laborious work done by the HEC and MoPD&SI team, while the PD&SI minister requested Mehmood to review the progress of 16 projects originally planned for completion in 2023-24 and work out the possibility for accelerating their completion by June 2023.

At this, the FE&PT minister directed the FE&PT secretary and HEC executive director to hold a meeting on September 17, 2021, to review the list of projects for FY 2023-24 and new projects in FY 2021-22.

Secretary MoPD&SI, Secretary FE&PT, Executive Director HEC, Member S&T Planning Commission Senior Officials from MoPD&SI and HEC attended the meeting.

Both the ministries and HEC have been working in close collaboration for the last month to review the PSDP 2021-22 portfolio of HEC and develop a strategy to ensure the completion of maximum projects by June 2023.