ECC approves Rs 5 billion grant for NDMA

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has decided to approve Rs5 billion technical supplementary grant for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to fight against the spread of coronavirus on war footing.
The ECC meeting chaired by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, decided that the technical supplementary grant approved for the NDMA would be utilised to gain logistic support and the provision of different types of personal protection equipments against the virus such as respirators/face masks etc.
The ECC also approved technical supplementary grants of Rs275 million for the Ministry of Housing and Works for capital outlay on civil works, Rs84,352,265 equivalent to $532,152 to be provided to the Nadra for the Fata temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) emergency recovery project and Rs5,500 million for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Achievement Program.
The ECC also approved quarterly adjustments of tariff of K-Electric limited for the period from July 2016 to March 2019, and directed to notify the tariff after three months in view of providing relief to the people of Karachi amid coronavirus outbreak and approaching Ramazan.
The ECC directed the Finance and Power Division to facilitate K-Electric by advance provision of subsidy amounting to Rs 26 billion.
The ECC was briefed that the revision of tariff would have an impact of Rs1.09 to Rs2.89/Kwh for various categories of consumers.
On the summary moved by the Ministry of Energy Power Division on execution of the LPG Air Mix supply projects by Sui Companies, the ECC decided to continue the operation of two already installed and working plants at Awaran and Bella, and approved the installation of another four plants at Gilgit, Drosh, Ayun and Chitral Town, where the equipment has already been procured for plant installation.
The work on other projects of the same nature was stalled, as it required a huge amount of subsidy to both the SSGPL and the SNGPL.
The ECC was briefed that the SNGPL requires Rs19.851 billion per annum for operation of 16 projects and SSGCL will require Rs14.474 billion to operate 32 approved projects.
The ECC decided that the Ministry of Energy should engage with the Government of Balochistan and decide upon more efficient projects, which would give the maximum benefit to the population of Balochistan province within the same amount of allocation/subsidy.
The decision was taken in the context that the existing revenue shortfall of the SNGPL was Rs143 billion and for SSGCL Rs72 billion as of end 2018-2019.
The ECC also decided to allocate 5.0 MMCFD gas from Saand 01 to M/S SSGCL.
The price of gas shall be according to the petroleum policy.
The ECC also constituted an inter-ministerial committee to firm up proposals in a month's time on incentive package for the National Electric Vehicle policy, comprising Minister for Planning and Development, Minister for Science and technology, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Austerity and Institutional Reforms, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, SA PM on Commerce (Chairman), Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum, and secretaries Industry and Climate Change.
The ECC acknowledged the role and efforts made by the Ministry of Climate Change on preparing incentive proposals for the National Electric Vehicle Policy.