The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved fixing the minimum take or pay commitment at 33 percent under the power purchase agreement (PPA) and gas supply agreement (GSA) to guard the interests of both buyers and suppliers of three RLNG public sector power plants.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar presided over the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.
Petroleum Division tabled a summary on change in take-or-pay commitment in power purchase agreements and gas supply agreements of Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Plant, Balloki Power Plant, and Haveli Bahadur Shah Power Plant.
The change was requested in the wake of prevailing international economic conditions and the unprecedented price hike of RLNG in the international market and to optimize the utilization of RLNG for the continued operations of these plants.
The ECC considered and approved the proposal of the Power Division to fix the minimum take or pay commitment at 33 percent under the power purchase agreement (PPA) and gas supply agreement (GSA) to guard the interests of both buyers and suppliers.
Further, the ECC allowed the fixation of gas security deposit (GSD) under the GSA at Rs. 15 billion per power project.
Urea pricing
The ECC considered and approved a summary of the Ministry of Industries and Production on the revision of the price of imported Urea and allowed to fix the Dealer Transfer Price (DTP) of 50 kg imported Urea bag at Rs. 2340 per bag by NFML and provisionally approved incidental charges from KPT at Rs. 594 per bag and from Gwadar at Rs. 1008 per bag respectively to bring stability in the prices of Urea in the market.
The ECC further directed that the 50 percent of subsidy of imported Urea should be shared by the provinces.
Grant for Heavy Electrical Complex
The committee considered another summary of the Ministry of Industries and Production on the provision of funds to the Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) to release the markup amount to the Bank of Khyber (BoK). The ECC after discussion approved a technical supplementary grant (TSG) amounting to Rs. 80.9 million to HEC for payment to Bank of Khyber for mark-up amount for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters of the calendar year 2022. The ECC also gave approval in principal for the provision of funds with the direction that the transaction of HEC must be completed by February 15, 2023.
Railways business plan
The Ministry of Railways submitted a summary on its business plan to generate a decent source of earnings to improve its financial health through the laying of fiber optic cable along its infrastructure.
The ECC after discussion constituted an inter-ministerial committee comprised of federal secretaries of all relevant divisions, headed by the Federal Minister for Law and Justice to prepare a draft Right of Way Policy on the issue.
Grant for Ministry of Housing
The committee also approved a technical supplementary grant of Rs. 500 million in favor of the Ministry of Housing and Works for the execution of a development scheme for the construction/rehabilitation of flood-affected roads, District Muzafargarh-I.
Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Tariq Pasha, Federal Secretaries, and senior officers attended the meeting.
