Just before the end of the current government term, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet allocated Rs. 50 billion to projects for parliamentarians.
The move, which appears to be an attempt to sway voters just months before approaching elections, may draw the attention of international observers and election monitors because such development projects, which may cost billions of rupees, could be considered pre-election manipulation.
Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the federal minister of finance and revenue, presided over the ECC meeting.
ECC Approved Rs. 50 Billion
More than Rs. 50 billion in funding were approved by ECC at the request of the Ministry of Housing and Works, Power and Petroleum Divisions for the implementation of development projects under the SDGs Achievement Program (SAP) in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and KPK.
The recipient agencies have made their demand for 2,488,000 MT of wheat for the food year 2023–2024, according to a summary provided by the Ministry of National Food Security & Research for distribution of PASSCO’s wheat among recipient agencies, provinces, and territories.
Following deliberation, the ECC approved distributing wheat among the recipients at a ratio of 50% locally grown and 50% imported, based on the stock’s weighted average price.
The ECC further ordered that as the federal government would not be held financially responsible for the provision of the wheat to the aforementioned provinces or entities, all recipients would be required to pay the full price of wheat as well as any incidental PASSCO charges.
Before signing the Memorandum of Understanding for the purchase of wheat for the current year, the ECC further instructed the province governments to settle their outstanding debts to PASSCO totaling Rs. 149 billion.
The EPZA Rules, 1981, and the EPZs (Control of entry and exit of persons and goods) Regulations, 1994, were amended to allow the import of construction materials from the tariff area into the Northern region’s EPZs (Sialkot, Gujranwala, and Risalpur), as well as all future EPZs, in local currency rather than foreign convertible currency for their quick colonization and achievement of maximum export targets.
The ECC approved the Ministry of Industries and Production’s summary of these amendment
For clearance of the commissioning of the 1263 MW CCPP- Punjab Thermal Power (Pvt) Limited Jhang, the Power Division presented a synopsis.
Following discussion, the ECC approved the proposal to postpone the HSD performance tests required by the Punjabi government and to declare the commercial operation date (COD) of Punjab Thermal Power (Pvt) Limited for RLNG upon successful completion of the RLNG Commissioning Test testing.
In the event that RLNG fuel is not available, PTPL will be subject to forced outages under the PPA until the power plant has successfully undergone testing on HSD fuel.
The allocation of condensate to Attock Refinery Limited and associated freight charge adjustment through IFEM were the subject of a summary provided by the Petroleum Division.
Following debate, the ECC approved the request and authorized the transfer of 5,000 BPD of condensate from UEPL’s Naimat Facility to ARL.
A report detailing the determination of the Maximum Retail Prices for 26 new pharmaceuticals was provided by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination.
Following a thorough discussion, the ECC authorized setting Maximum Retail Prices (MPRs) for twenty-five (25) new medications.
The ECC also approved the transfer of Rs 10 billion as TSG in favor of the PM’s Youth Business & Agriculture Loan Scheme (PMYB&ALS), which was surrendered from the PM’s Youth Program for small loans, and Rs 2,725 million as TSG in favor of the Power Division, which will be used to carry out development projects in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, KPK, and Balochistan as part of the Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Program.
To read our blog on “Sindh sugar mills go okay by ECC to export 32K tons of sugar,” click here.