ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) meeting, under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, has approved the procurement of 7.05 million tonnes of wheat during current harvesting.
ECC considered and approved proposal of Ministry of National Food Security and Research for public sector procurement of wheat crop 2015-16. It was decided that 7.05 million tonnes of wheat will be procured by all the four provinces and Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) till 31st of August 2016.
The ECC, on a proposal from the Federal Board of Revenue, accorded approval to extend the period for reduced withholding tax rate of 0.4% on banking transactions by non-filers till 30th April 2016.
The meeting also approved Ministry of Water and Power’s proposal regarding provision of Government of Pakistan (GoP) guarantee to open second letter of credit for setting up two 1000-1200 MW projects at Haveli Bahadur Shah, district Jhang and Balloki, district Kasur.
On a proposal of Ministry of Petroleum, the ECC approved allocation of 100 MMCFD gas to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for use in power generation, either at its own or through partnership with the private sector.
The proposal was based on the MoU recently signed between the federal government and the provincial government. The KP government is planning to operate 800MW power plant with the proposed allocation of 100 MMCFD.
On a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Water & Power regarding executing the Power Purchase Agreement by CPPA-G pertaining to imported RLNG based power projects, the ECC accorded approval to authorize CPPA to develop and execute the PPA for the three RLNG based power projects in the Public Sector.
