ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to divert 50 per cent of public sector imports to Gwadar Port destined for upcountry aimed at making Gwadar a financially viable project, well informed sources told Business Recorder.
The decision was taken at a meeting convened to follow up on Prime Minister’s China visit in June 2024, presided over by Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. Ministry of Maritime Affairs (MoMA) has been directed to move a summary for the Federal Cabinet specifying areas/ sectors and items for mandatory import through Gwadar.
According to sources, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, Secretary Railways and other relevant officials shall consider the Chinese offer for Karachi-Hyderabad Section of ML-1 keeping in view its financial viability and completion of Karachi-Multan Section, and place it before the Cabinet in the next meeting for consideration.
PM directs routing 50pc of public cargo thru Gwadar port
Planning Minister will also consolidate the activities by Ministries of Commerce, Industries and Production, Finance and BoI in order to facilitate the transfer of Chinese companies to Pakistan.
Board of Investment (BoI) has been directed to come up with a plan to facelift the Organization and improve its human resources, as per directives of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).
Board of Investment and Ministry of Commerce in coordination with SIFC is tasked to prepare a comprehensive plan for preparation of Pakistani firms/ exporters in international import Expo to be held in Shanghai on November 5-10, 2024.
Committee under Planning Minister and comprising Minister for National Food Security and Research is to ensure merit and proportionate provincial representation for training of 1000 Pakistani agriculture graduates in China.
Pakistan ambassador to China will actively engage with the Chinese experts and their parent departments to seek a timely and favourable visit report, in coordination with Minister for Planning as the next meeting on follow up of Prime Minister’s China visit will be target oriented in terms of priority areas with investment, commerce and industries being the highest priority.
Power Division has been directed to resolve issue of bulk sales/ tariff related to supply of electricity to Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
In another meeting in Planning Ministry, CRBC/ RSEZDOC briefly shared progress on Rashakai Special Economic Zone.
While reporting on issues relating to the Rashakai SEZ, the developer mentioned that they applied for distribution and supply licences from NEPRA in November 2022. However, Nepra had not issued licences citing that Power Division/ Government of Pakistan must first provide policy decision on source of power supply either from CPPA-G-or PESCO.
Power Division apprised that draft policy has been prepared and is currently under review in the Ministry.
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, stated that this issue has been pending for long time and directed Power Division to finalise and report the policy decision immediately for permanent solution.
He emphasised that tariff decision should ensure that end user/ industrial consumers receive the same tariff rate as consumers outside the zone. He further stated that for calculation of tariff, backward calculation strategy could be adopted whereby end users/ industrial consumers would be offered unified tariff whereas developer of Rashakai SEZ could receive discount to recover the distribution cost.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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