ECC relaxes PPRA rules for urea import

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Monday recommended relaxation in the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules for the import of urea and also approved the payment of second installment to the independent power producers.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Division Omar Ayub Khan chaired the meeting.

On a summary tabled by the Ministry of Industries and Production, seeking relaxation in the PPRA rules for urea import, the ECC, after due deliberations, recommended PPRA to give exemption in rules to the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) due to emergency for publishing a second tender advertisement and enabling it to republish the tender till fetching a low price during the Rabi Session 2021/22.

The ECC deliberated in detail on the summary presented by the Ministry of Industries and Production on the SME Policy 2021/25.

The policy framework is based on reforming the policy and regulatory environment and addressing the SME market constraints, both demand and supply side.

The meeting also considered and approved the technical supplementary grants of Rs10 billion during FY2021/22 under the Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Programme; Rs338 million during FY2021/22 in favour of the National Rahmatul-Lil-Aalameen Authority (NRA), Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training; funds of Rs5.85 billion in favour of the Housing and Works Department to execute the development schemes in Sindh and Balochistan.

Similarly, the technical supplementary grant worth Rs1.08 billion from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) to Interior Division for further release to ICT administration was also approved.

The committee also considered and approved rupee cover budget against $200 million (equivalent to Rs35 billion) of the $500 million committed by the Asian Development bank (ADB) for the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccines and ancillary goods and services.

Other technical supplementary grants of Rs134.783 billion for the payment to IPPs on the second instatement (60 per cent) as per the payment mechanism; Rs4.785 billion in favour of the Election Commission of Pakistan for the conduct of local government elections in all the provinces and for periodical revision of electoral rolls were also considered and approved.

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, federal secretaries and other senior officers participated in the meeting.

Earlier, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin presided over the Technical Advisory Committee meeting of the ECC.