ECC approve grants of Rs.2,650.968 mln for development in Provinces

ECC approve grants of Rs.2,650.968 mln for development in Provinces

ISLAMABAD, Dec 16 (APP):The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday approved technical supplementary grant for amount Rs. 2,650.968 million in favour of Ministry of Housing and Works for execution of development schemes in the province of Sindh and Balochistan.

Under the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Sub-Committee, ECC also approved these technical Supplementary Grants including the technical Supplementary Grant for amount Rs. 2,650.968 million in favor of the Ministry of Housing and Works, said a press release issued here.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Omar Ayub Khan chaired a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet here.

The meeting was attended by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, Minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar, Minister for Railway,Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam, Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood , Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), respective federal secretaries and other senior government officers.

The ECC also approved supplementary Grant / Technical Supplementary Grant in favour of Ministry of Energy for payment of First Instalment (40%) to IPPS of 2002 under payment mechanism.

Supplementary Grant to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting amounting to Rs. 2 billion for launching comprehensive media campaign on Government initiatives, Programmes and Projects.

The ECC, after detailed discussion, deferred a summary tabled by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research for notification of minimum indicative price of Tobacco Crop 2022 with the directions that a committee may be formed to address the observations of stakeholders and present the proposal in the next meeting after detail revision.

Earlier, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Mr. Shaukat Tarin, presided over the meeting of Technical Advisory Sub-Committee.
The TASC reviewed the summaries in detail and presented its recommendations to the ECC for its consideration.

The ECC after deliberation approved the summary presented by the Ministry of Commerce on Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 with directions to incorporate inputs of FBR and Finance Division and meet the observations of Power Division. After detailed discussion, ECC also approved the summary tabled by Ministry of Industry ans Production on Auto Industry Development and Export Policy (AIDEP) 2021-26, with the directions that export targets given in the Policy may be reviewed every year and updated accordingly and proposed tariff structure to be presented separately to the ECC.

The ECC after deliberation approved the summary presented by the Ministry of Energy on Retargeting of Power Sector Subsidies – Phase –II, that included removal of one slab benefit (Incremental block tariff) and incorporation of revised subsidy and inter-distribution companies tariff rationalization/cross subsidies.

The Committee also recommended the summary tabled by the Finance Division for enhancement of Ways and Means Limit of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government from Rs. 27.0 billion to Rs. 31.3 billion due to the impact of wage bill of erstwhile FATA.

The ECC discussed and approved the summary presented by the Ministry of Industries and Production for endorsement on the decision of the Committee constituted by the ECC of the Cabinet on scrapping of the tenders floated by TCP in respect of import of sugar.

On the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Sub-Committee, ECC also approved the summary tabled by the Ministry of Industries and Production on revised Gas supply priority order to the Fertilizer Sector.

System gas supplies will be ensured to these plants during the current Rabi Session 2021-22 ensuring immediate availability of Urea Fertilizer and saving of foreign exchange in case of import of Urea from abroad.