The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet Wednesday approved Rs. 96.133 billion for the Power Division for payment to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as a second installment.
The meeting of the ECC was presided over by Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue Miftah Ismail and attended by Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema, Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mehmood, and Minister of State for Finance Dr. Aisha Ghous Pasha.
Ministry of Energy submitted a summary on tariff rationalization for the power sector. The ECC approved tariff rationalization for K-Electric by way of adjustments of increase Rs. 0.571 per unit with a recovery period of three months.
On another summary of the Power Division on settlement of payables to government-owned power plants at par with IPPS, the ECC allowed the release of Rs. 17 billion during the current financial year as investment in DISCOs for payment to RLNG-based public power plants (Haveli Bahadur Shah, Bhikki, and Balloki Power Plants) to meet the cash requirement.
Power Division also submitted a summary on notification of quarterly tariff adjustments of K-Electric and associated financial impact. The ECC after a detailed discussion allowed utilizing the available budget of Rs. 36.948 billion as advance subsidy in FY22 for onward release to CPPA-G due to paucity of time.
The ECC considered and approved a supplementary grant of Rs. 1224.41 in favour of the Ministry of Interior for payment to the families of deceased/ Shaheed employees under the Prime Minister’s Assistance package to support the families of Shuhda/deceased of ICT Police who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
The ECC approved Rs. 6.1 billion in favour of the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI) to procure vaccines for uninterrupted supply to the provinces to support the immunization programme for children under 1 year of age against ten vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs).
The ECC also approved Rs. 3 billion for the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit-Baltistan for further release to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government for permanent settlement of Illegally Indian Occupied J&K refugees stranded in AJK.
On a summary submitted by the Ministry of Housing and Works for allocation of additional funds for repair and maintenance of Ministers’ Enclave, Islamabad, the ECC rejected the proposal due to austerity measures taken by the present government and millions.
The ECC also approved supplementary/technical supplementary grants of Rs. 5,891 million in favour of the Ministry of Interior, Rs. 40 million for the media publicity campaign by NCOC, Rs. 125.8 million in favour of the Cabinet Division, Rs. 3,750 million for the Ministry of Foreign affairs to meet its budgetary shortfall, Rs. 379 million in favour of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication for Special Communication Organization (SCO) and Rs. 5 billion to Pakistan Railway to settle a major portion of its pending liabilities with directions to make Pakistan Railways a profitable business entity.
