ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) in its meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in chair allowed export of 1.5 million metric tonnes of sugar in view of the commodity’s surplus availability.
The ECC allowed the export of sugar while taking into account the recommendations of recent Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting, a PM Office statement said.
The ECC also permitted procurement of goods and services as per the provisions of the Framework Arrangement and Export-Import Bank of Korea Guidelines.
In order to discourage fuel adulteration and tax evasion, the ECC allowed addition of fuel marker in superior kerosene oil (SKO).
The ECC also approved determination and notification of UCH-II Gas Price, as agreed under gas pricing agreement (GPA) by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) under the OGRA Ordinance, 2002.
The ECC gave approval for making necessary amendments to the ECC-approved Supplemental Agreement to Implementation Agreement (SAIA) for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
The ECC also acceded to a proposal for levying of regulatory duty on import of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). “The step would help maintain parity with the locally produced LPG.
The ECC also allowed disposal of 500,000 tonnes of surplus wheat of PASSCO through local sale.
Separately, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday directed all power distribution companies (DISCOs) to maintain and upgrade their distribution networks so that increase in production capacity in the sector could be translated into uninterrupted power supply.
Chairing a meeting on power and energy at his office, he directed for greater coordination among the officials of departments concerned so as to overcome issues related to power distribution.
The prime minister was briefed about current power demand and supply situation in the country.
It was reiterated during the meeting that sufficient power and generation capacity was available in the system to meet current as well as projected demand for the coming months.
The prime minister was informed that power outage in some parts of the country during the last three days was not due to any shortage of power, but due to technical issues in the distribution system.
The meeting was attended by Power Minsiter Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Minister of State for Petroleum Jam Kamal Khanm, secretaries of the divisions concerned, SNGPL managing director, Oil Companies Advisory Council chief executive officer, Attock Refinery Limited chief executive officer and others.
Published in Daily Times, November 29th 2017.
