Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Dr Salman Shah on Tuesday constituted a committee to work on the issue of diversification of utility bills collection. The committee has been asked to submit the joint decision of all stakeholders on the issue of collection charges of utility bills.
The committee which has representatives of all the utility companies, Pakistan Post Office, five large commercial banks and representatives from the smaller banks has been asked to submit its report within a month which will be presented to the Cabinet Committee constituted by the Prime Minister on the issue. State Bank of Pakistan will co-ordinate committee meetings.
The decision was taken in a meeting held here at Ministry of Finance. The meeting was chaired by the Advisor on Finance and Revenue, Dr Salman Shah.
It was attended by representatives of all utility companies, Pakistan Post Office, major banks involved in bills collections concerned regulatory authorities and senior officers of Ministry of Finance.
Intensive discussions were held among various stakeholders about different aspects of the issue.
The Banks and Pakistan Post Office stated that they are subsidising the cost of bills collection. Utility companies opposed their point of view.
Dr Salman said presently there is disagreement between utility companies and bill collecting agencies on the issue of collection charges.
He also observed that there is a great need to improve services delivery system for the consumers and spirit of competition for better and low-cost delivery system has to be introduced.
The Advisor has directed the committee to review all issues thoroughly on the basis of quantifiable facts and figure and reach a consensus among themselves.
Giving guidelines to the committee the Advisor said that their recommendations should be in line with the government policies.
He directed that priority should be given to convenience to the public with better service delivery, creation of multiple modes for bill collections, integration of technology to reduce costs and facilitation to the rural customers.
The Advisor also asked the committee to review whether a viable system can be evolved that reduces its reliance on the larger five banks in bills collection and that can be based on competitive bidding.
The report prepared by the committee will be submitted to the Ministry of Finance and its recommendations will be presented to the Cabinet Committee recently constituted by the Prime Minister on the issue.
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