ISLAMABAD: Jan 11,2023; Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar presided over the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday.
Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud, SAPM on Finance Mr. Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Mr. Tariq Mehmood Pasha, Federal Secretaries and senior officers attended the meeting.
Petroleum Division tabled a summary on change in take-or-pay commitment in power purchase agreements & gas supply agreements of three RLNG public sector power plants namely Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Plant, Balloki Power Plant and Haveli Bahadur Shah Power Plant. In the wake of prevailing international economic conditions and the unprecedented price hike of RLNG in the international market and to optimize the utilization of RLNG for the continued operations of these Power Plants, the ECC considered and approved the proposal of Power Division to fix the minimum take or pay commitment at 33% under the PPA and GSA to guard the interests of both buyers and suppliers. Further, the ECC allowed the fixation of GSD under the GSA at Rs. 15 billion per power project.
The ECC considered and approved a summary of Ministry of Industries and Production on revision of price of imported Urea and allowed to fix Dealer Transfer Price (DTP) of 50 kg imported Urea bag at Rs. 2340/bag by NFML and provisionally approved incidental charges from KPT at Rs. 594/bag and from Gwadar at Rs. 1008/bag respectively to bring stability in the prices of Urea in the market. The ECC further directed that the 50% of subsidy of the imported Urea should be shared by the provinces.
The ECC considered another summary of Ministry of Industries and Production on provision of funds to Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) to release markup amount to Bank of Khyber (BoK). The ECC after discussion approved Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) amounting to Rs. 80.988 million to HEC for payment to Bank of Khyber for mark up amount for 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters of the calendar year 2022. The ECC also gave approval in principal for provision of funds with direction that the transaction of HEC must be completed by 15th February, 2023.
Ministry of Railways submitted a summary on its business plan to generate decent source of earning in order to improve its financial health through laying of fiber optic cable along its infrastructure. The ECC after discussion constituted an inter-ministerial committee comprised federal secretaries of all relevant divisions, headed by Federal Minister for Law & Justice to prepare draft Right of Way Policy on the issue.
The ECC also approved a Technical Supplementary Grant of Rs. 500 million in favour of Ministry of Housing and Works for execution of development scheme on construction/rehabilitation of flood affected roads, District Muzafargarh-I.