- Committee approves Rs1.8bn power subsidy for tribal districts
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday allowed an additional supply of 150MW power through the national grid to K-Electric in order to address the power shortage problem in Karachi.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the ECC meeting, which was convened to deliberate upon various proposals and recommendations submitted by the divisions.
The Power Division had moved a summary to seek ECC’s approval to allow an additional supply of power to Karachi.
The ECC also approved additional subsidy of Rs1.8 billion to Tribal Electric Supply Company (TESCO) so as to ensure additional power to seven tribal agencies of ex-Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) during Ramzan.
The Power Division informed the committee that the government had been paying the electricity bills of the domestic consumers of former tribal agencies through subsidy of Rs1.3 billion per month.
The ECC also acceded to the proposal of Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority by granting tax exemption to the projects being constructed under the Saudi Fund for Development Grant.
On the occasion, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research secretary gave a presentation to the committee, updating it about the availability of wheat stock in the country.
He informed that the wheat procurement process was being conducted smoothly by the provincial government (Punjab) and Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO).
The committee approved the proposed procurement target of the wheat crop for the year 2018-19 to the tune of 5.15 million tonnes with a financial limit of Rs158.5 billion.
On the proposal of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, the ECC waived off demurrage (KPT storage charges) on the consignments of rice to be distributed among the needy people by a non-profit welfare organization working for the poor and the needy people of the country.
The committee also approved technical supplementary and supplementary grants for different ministries/divisions.
