Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Mr. Miftah Ismail presided over the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet at Finance Division, today.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Chaudhary Tariq Bashir Cheema, Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mehmood, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr. Aisha Ghous Pasha, Federal Secretaries, Chairman FBR and senior officers attended the meeting.
Ministry of Energy, Power Division submitted a summary on tariff rationalization for power sector. As per National Electricity Policy 2021, the Government may maintain a uniform consumer-end tariff for K-Electric and state owned distribution companies. Accordingly, KE applicable uniform variable charge is required to be modified to maintain the uniform tariff across the country. The ECC approved tariff rationalization for K-Electric by way of adjustments of increase Rs. 0.571/unit with recovery period of three months. Further, NEPRA to issue revised schedule of tariff determined for the Quarter October to December, 2021, or incorporate in the latest schedule of tariff for the quarter Jan- March 2022 after incorporating tariff rationalization.
On another summary of Power Division on settlement of payables to Government owned Power Plants at par with IPPS, the ECC allowed release of Rs. 17 billion during current financial year i-e FY 22 as investment in DISCOs for payment to RLNG based public power plants ( Haveli Bahadur Shah, Bhikki and Balloki Power Plants) to meet the cash requirement.
Ministry of Energy, Power Division submitted another summary on notification of quarterly tariff adjustments (QTAs) of K-Electric Limited and associated financial impact. The ECC after detailed discussion allowed utilizing available budget of Rs. 36.948 billion as advance subsidy in FY-22 for onward release to CPPA-G due to paucity of time.
The ECC considered and approved a supplementary grant of Rs. 1224.41 Million in favour of Ministry of Interior for payment to the families of deceased/ Shaheed employees under Prime Minister’s Assistance package in order to support the families of Shuhda/deceased of ICT Police who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
The ECC approved Rs. 6,133.314 Million in favour of Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI) to procure vaccines for uninterrupted supply to the provinces and to enhance the immunization programme for children under 1 year age against ten vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs).
The ECC also approved Rs. 3,096.05 Million for Ministry of Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit-Baltistan for further release to AJ & K Government for permanent settlement of Illegally Indian Occupied J& K refugees stranded in AJ&K.
On a summary submitted by Ministry of Housing and Works for allocation of additional funds for repair and maintenance of Ministers’ Enclave, Islamabad, the ECC rejected the proposal due to austerity measures taken by the present government. Further millions of funds ( Rs. 87.5 Million in 2018-19, Rs. 4.8 Million in 2019-20 and Rs. 50 Million in 2020-21) have already been utilized on repair and maintenance of Ministers’ Enclave by the previous government from 2018 to 2021.
The ECC also approved following Supplementary/Technical Supplementary Grants.
i. Rs. 5,891.9 Million in favour of Ministry of Interior.
ii. Rs. 96.133 billion to Power Division for payment to the IPPs as second installment (60% payment).
iii. Rs. 40 Million for the media publicity campaign by NCOC.
iv. Rs. 125.8 Million in favour of Cabinet Division
v. Rs. 3,750 Million for Ministry of Foreign affairs to meet its budgetary shortfall.
vi. Rs. 379 Million in favour of MoIT&T for Special Communication Organization (SCO).
vii. Rs. 5 billion to Pakistan Railway to settle a major portion of its pending liabilities with directions to make Pakistan Railways a profitable business entity.
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