The Cabinet was informed that short and medium term measures of two days energy conference would ease the power crisis but total eradication would take at least three years, sources told Business Recorder.
Sources said Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf in an informal briefing to the Cabinet said that installed capacity of power generation was not being fully utilised for various reasons including circular debt issue and low water level in dams.
The recommendations finalised by four sub-committees for taking measures to minimise the ongoing energy crisis would be made public by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani himself through a media briefing to take into confidence the people as well as the sectors. The respective chief ministers of the provinces would take on board traders association and business community for smooth implementation of the proposed recommendations.
Pervez Ashraf told the meeting that industry would be top priority of the government. The minister said the government may be able to provide uninterrupted power supply to the industry in six months. The meeting chaired by Prime Minister was informed about the deliberations of the energy summit and that sub-committees constituted in this regard would submit their reports to the Prime Minister.
According to a statement, the Cabinet appreciated the initiative of the Prime Minister for convening the energy summit in which all the four Chief Ministers and other stakeholders participated and presented their viewpoints. The Prime Minister had directed the energy summit to evolve consensus on national strategy to overcome energy shortages in the country.
The Cabinet also took note of the mushroom growth of unplanned inhabitation in the country and asked the provincial governments and CDA to ensure proper town planning. In this regard the Cabinet decided to sensitise the people through organising seminars on town planning before formally initiating action against illegal and ill-planned inhabitation.
In pursuance of the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in suo motu case No 10 of 2007, the Cabinet also approved Amendment to Islamabad Capital Territory Zoning Regulations 1992. These amendments relate to specific changes in the land use of Zone-4. The Cabinet accorded approval, in principle, to a similar plan of Zone-3 subject to clearance by a Cabinet committee comprising Ministers for Interior, Housing and Works and Law & Justice.
The CDA was directed to give wide publicity for information of landowners and general public through print and electronic media on land use of its territory. The Cabinet also directed CDA to ensure that no constructions are made in the CDA territory against the law and regulations.
The Cabinet approved signing of the Saarc Agreement on Trade in Services during the 16th Saarc Summit scheduled to be held in Thimphu, Bhutan on April 28-29, 2010. The Cabinet ratified the decisions of the ECC meeting held on March 30, 2010. In order to update the laws relating to intellectual property management, the Cabinet granted approval to the draft amendment bill "Intellectual Property Rights Organisation of Pakistan Bill, 2010," which shall be laid before the Parliament.
The draft law proposes amendments to 15 sections of the IPO Ordinance while two new sections have also been added. The Cabinet granted approval, in principle, to start negotiations for MoU between National Language Authority and Academy of the Persian Language & Literature of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The MoU envisages joint training programmes, research, seminars and exchange of delegations.
The Cabinet also granted approval for signing of MoU between the governments of Pakistan and Tunisia for closer co-operation between Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and Trade Promotion Organisation of Tunisia. The Cabinet further approved signing of Financial and Technical Co-operation Agreements 2007-2008 between Pakistan and Germany.
The negotiations were held in November 2008 and resulted in financial assistance of euro 64 million by Germany for the projects in health, energy, education and communication. The Cabinet approved, in principle, to start negotiations in respect of framework agreement between the government of Pakistan and Republic of Korea for a loan of $180 million.
The soft loan shall be utilised for funding development projects in health, environment, renewable energy, vocational training, water & sanitation, irrigation and infrastructure sectors. In order to address the issue of credit data on borrowers to be used by the financial institutions for the purposes of credit assessment, scoring, and risk management, the Cabinet granted, in principle, approval for legislating draft "Credit Bureau Act, 2010."
The draft bill will be prepared in consultation with the Ministry of Law & Justice. The database about borrowers will enable the financial institutions to know about the financial standing of their prospective customers and enable them to make prudent decisions.
The Cabinet accorded its ex post facto approval for the proposed "State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2010." The proposed amendment in State Bank Act 1956 will update the law and conform it to best international practices. The law will become more conducive to challenging global economic and regulatory environment and modern functioning of the central bank.
The amendment proposes to replace Fiscal Policies Co-ordination Board with Monetary Policy Committee with statutory status. Lending to the government has been restricted. Similarly, emergent functions pertaining to open market and credit operations and international reserves have been elaborated and clarified by substitution of the existing sections.
The draft bill is already being discussed in the Parliament. The Cabinet approved a proposal to renegotiate the Pakistan-Czech Republic Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Treaty. By renegotiating the bilateral investment treaty, the investors'' confidence will be further enhanced, the Cabinet observed.
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