ECC approves summary submitted by Ministry of Energy for extension of GOP guarantee ceiling of Rs 100 biln in favour of PSO till Dec 2024

ISLAMABAD, Nov 10 (SABAH): Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday.

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Commerce, Industries, & Production Dr. Gohar Ijaz, Minister for Communications, Railways, & Maritime Affairs Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Minister for Power & Petroleum Muhammad Ali (via video link), Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Sami Saeed, Advisor to PM on Finance Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, Chairman SECP, Federal Secretaries, and other senior government officials of the relevant ministries.

The meeting considered the summaries submitted by various Ministries, including the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Ministry of Energy (Power Division), Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, & Ministry of Defence. The ECC also discussed the summary submitted by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs regarding the “Revision of Lighthouse Dues”. The ECC, after detailed discussion, decided to revise the Lighthouse dues from Rs. 7/ NRT to Rs. 20/NRT, under Section 10(1) of the Lighthouse Act, 1927. The ECC also discussed and approved a summary submitted by the Ministry of Energy for extension of GOP guarantee ceiling of Rs 100 billion in favour of PSO till December 2024, subject to approval of terms and conditions of each financing facility by Finance Division upon renewal. A proposal for disbursement of Rs 20 billion credited to Federal Government Account by the Finance Department Government of Punjab for further disbursement to Green Corporative Initiative (Pvt) for Green Pakistan Initiative was also discussed. The ECC approved the disbursement with the observation that the provincial governments may directly engage with companies operating under Green Pakistan Initiative for future disbursements.

The ECC also took up a summary submitted by the Ministry of Energy regarding “Uniform Quarterly Tariff Adjustments for K-Electric Consumers at par with XWDISCOs 2nd & 3rd Quarterly FY 2023”. After detailed discussion, it was decided by the ECC that the tariff rationalization by way of adjustments for K-Electric in line with the uniform QTA application guidelines already issued to NEPRA, shall be applicable on the consumption of July, August, and September 2023 to be recovered from consumers of K-Electric in December 2023, January 2024, and February 2024, respectively. Moreover, application of XWDISCOs’2nd QTA of Rs. 0.4689/unit, already approved for K-Electric consumers, in line with the uniform QTA application guidelines already issued to NEPRA, shall be applicable on the consumption of April, May, and June 2023 to be recovered from consumers of K-Electric in December 2023, January 2024, and February 2024, respectively.

Another summary submitted by Ministry of Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety regarding the “Grant of Special Relief Package for Daily Wage Workers on Chaman Border” was also considered. After detailed discussion and deliberation, the ECC asked BISP to examine the cases of 8,000 registered daily wage workers employed at the Chaman border to see whether they were already in its system, and provide support to the eligible ones from its allocated budget in consultation with the Finance Department, Government of Balochistan for later reimbursement of the amount to be spent on providing six-months support to the daily wage workers.

The summary submitted by the Ministry of Interior regarding Technical Supplementary Grant amounting to Rs. 47.45 million within the sanctioned budget, for repair and maintenance, during CFY 2023-24, was considered and approved. ECC also considered a summary submitted by the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication, and approved release of Rs 5 billion as bridge finance from the R&D Fund for the Digital Information Infrastructure project.