ECC okays $11.6 million for Dasu affected Chinese, export of essential items to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved an $11.6 million compensation package for the affected Chinese nationals of the Dasu Hydropower Project incident.

The committee, virtually presided by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin also allowed the export of essential food items to Afghanistan.

The ministry of water resources tabled a summary on the compensation package for the affected Chinese nationals of Dasu Hydropower Project incident, where the ECC approved the proposal of payment of $11.6 million as a goodwill gesture on government level.

While considering the food crisis and prevailing situation of Afghanistan, the ECC approved the summary presented by the ministry of commerce, and allowed the export of selected commodities to Afghanistan against the Pakistani currency by adding them in the list of items at Para-7(1) of Export Policy Order, 2020.

The ECC also approved a summary presented by the commerce ministry and allowed the removal of 45 per cent regulatory duty on the import of chilghoza from Afghanistan.

The reduction in the tariff on this item will encourage the legal import of unprocessed chilghoza for processing in the country to further export it and will also be instrumental in creating jobs in the far flung areas of border regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and economically backward areas of Balochistan.

The committee approved to enhance the quota limit for export of samples, to $25,000 or 0.1 per cent, of actual export proceeds during the last financial year in US dollars per exporter per annum, by amending relevant paras of the Export Policy Order, 2020.

A proposal submitted by the finance division was approved, for engaging the services of a third party to carry out the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) functions of the Kamyab Pakistan Programme (KPP).

The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) was engaged for monitoring and evaluation of the KPP. However, PPAF has not been able to undertake M&E responsibilities due to its legal status.

The finance division presented a summary during the meeting to resolve the issue of reversal of foreign commonwealth and development office (FCDO) unspent grant funds under amendment to MoU, with proposal to establish a new credit guarantee company (CGC) having 56 per cent shareholding of FCDO through Karandaaz (unspent funds) and 44 per cent shareholding of the government, with mandate of issuance of credit guarantees against financing in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. The committee discussed and approved the proposal.

The ministry of industries and production presented a summary on the urea fertiliser requirement for the remaining Rabi Season 2021/22.

The ECC allowed the operations of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) based plants (Fatima Fertilizer’s Sheikhupura plant and Agritech) for a further two months post January 2022 i.e., February–March 2022 at Rs839/mmbtu for the mentioned period.

The ECC approved a summary tabled by the ministry of information technology and telecommunication for the constitution of the Advisery Committee headed by the finance minister for the release of IMT/5G spectrum.

The ministry of information technology and telecommunication presented a draft policy directive of the Pakistan Telecommunication (re-organisation) Act 1996, for renewal of cellular licence of Pakistan Mobile Communication Limited (PMCL/Jazz), where the meeting approved it after due deliberation.

The ECC also approved various technical supplementary grants including Rs4 billion under the Pakistan Raises Revenue Programme (PRRP) for financial year 2021/22 for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Rs5 billion in favour of the ministry of planning, development and special initiatives for the conduction of 7th population and housing census and Rs78.500 million for the projects of the ICT Administration, Islamabad by the ministry of interior.

They also included Rs60 million for the ministry of interior within the sanctioned budget for purchase of spare parts for the helicopter maintained by the headquarters of the Frontier Corps Balochistan North, Rs3 million equivalent to $17,133.06 within the sanctioned budget for the ministry of interior for the purchase of spare parts for the helicopter maintained by the HQs of the Frontier Corps KP North.

The committee approved the re-allocation of Rs226.8 million surrendered funds for the year 2021/22 under Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Programme (SAP) in favour of the interior division for further release to the ICT Administration, and rupee cover of $65.00 million (equivalent to Rs11.96 billion) to M/o NHSR&C, committed by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), to utilise the IsDB loan under “IVAC Covid-19 Vaccine support for Pakistan”.

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Syed Fakhar Imam; Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar; Federal Minister for Water Resources, Chaudhry Moonis Elahi; federal secretaries and senior officers attended the meeting.