Roti Relief: ECC decides to revert gas prices for Roti Tandoor to June 30 position

The Econ-omic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet Wedne-sday decided to revert gas prices for roti tandoors to June 30 position, a day after the Prime Minister ordered to restore previous prices of roti/naan by providing subsidy against projected revenue of Rs 1.51 billion for gas companies. The ECC meeting chaired by Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh approved a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Energy to revise gas prices for roti tandoors with effect from July 1, 2019 and reverted the gas prices for roti tandoors to the position of June 30, 2019.
An official said that revenue of gas companies was estimated at Rs 1.51 billion for the entire fiscal year and now the government would pick up the impact of reverting the increase in gas price for roti tandoor and pay to the gas companies.
He added that four gas slabs which were reverted for roti tandoors included; for consumption above 300 cubic meters to Rs 700 mmbtu from Rs 1283, 200 cubic meters consumption to Rs 300 per mmbtu from Rs 553 per mmbtu, 100 cubic meter consumption from Rs 300 per mmbtu to Rs 220 per mmbtu and for 0.500 cubic meter to Rs 110 per mmbtu from Rs 121 per mmbtu.
A subsidy of Rs 1 billion was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and official stated continuation of the gas prices for roti tandoors will be subject to quarterly review. Price of naan was increased to Rs 12 to Rs 15 in different cities of the country from Rs 8-10 while the price of roti or chapati was increased to Rs 10 from Rs 7-8.
The ECC stated that the price of wheat which contributes 55 to 60% to the price of roti remained unchanged while the gas bills that contribute 20 to 25 % to the price of roti, have not been issued yet under the new tariff which came into effect from July 1, 2019.
Under the decision, a detailed survey of the tandoors across the country would be carried out in order to ensure that the benefit of revision in gas tariff was made applicable to stand-alone tandoors or roadside restaurants catering to the poor and no undue benefit was passed on the tandoors in hotels or larger restaurants which are to be treated as commercial gas connections.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting also called for effective price control by provincial governments and relevant authorities to ensure the sale of roti at its old price and decided to review the decision after three months in case the tandoor owners fail to pass the benefit of reduced gas prices to common man.
A report on wheat situation in the country was also presented to the ECC as directed in its earlier meeting. The meeting was briefed that there is 7.635 million tonnes of wheat stock available with PASSCO and provincial food departments.
It was also mentioned during the meeting that after the imposition of ban on the export of wheat and wheat flour, there has been a considerable reduction in wheat prices in the market and the situation would eventually reduce the prices of roti and naan in the market.
On a summary moved by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, the ECC decided to impose a 10% regulatory duty on the import of cotton.
The implementation of Authorised Economic Operator Programme as envisaged under section 212 A(1) of the Customs Act, 1969 was also approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) also allowed the two LNG re-gasification Terminals (Terminal 1, Engro Elengy Terminal Private Limited and Terminal 2, Pakistan Gas Port Consortium Limited) to allocate additional re-gasification capacity of terminal, if any, to third party on a commercial basis under mutually agreed arrangements subject to certain conditions.
The ECC also approved the authorisation of CPPA to sign the interim agreement regarding revised payment terms for generation on LNG by Altern Energy Limited, Kot Addu Power Company Limited and public sector Gencos, and extension of interim agreement signed with Fauji Kabirwala and Rousch Power Limited, which expired on 30th June 2018.