Projects Approved.

With our foreign reserves still low, an added cost of Rs 21.28 billion has been approved for six development projects by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP). The projects include a weather surveillance radar, a hospital, a renewable energy field, and various other infrastructure projects. There are clear positives to all the projects proposed, especially the 250-bed tertiary care divisional hospital in Skardu which will help patients of all four districts, tourists, and other individuals.

There is a severe lack of tertiary healthcare facilities in the Baltistan Division and its completion will reap many benefits in the long run and save public money used to import tertiary healthcare. Likewise, all projects are aimed at training, skilling, and benefitting citizens.

However, given the tendency for scope creep, it must be evaluated how realistic these projects are before this amount of funds is dedicated toward them. At present, our forex reserves have increased substantially after the inflow of a commercial loan. However, total foreign reserves are still a meager $10.139 bn, enough for about four weeks of necessary imports. We are still in...