From Passco stock to provinces: ECC decides to release 650,000 tons of wheat

• Decision taken after a huge increase of Rs 140 in national average price of 20kg bag of flour.
• The meeting approved Rs 2.745 billion to be paid to PASSCO as incidental charges on 50/50 basis to be shared between the center and provinces.
• The government had earlier released 250,000 tons of wheat to the governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from PASSCO.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Federal Cabinet has decided to release 650,000 tons of wheat from PASSCO stock to the provinces after a huge increase of Rs 140 in national average price of 20kg bag of flour.

Sources told that there has been a massive increase of Rs 140 in price of 20kg bag of flour with the national average price of flour increasing from Rs 1,000 in Sep 2019 to Rs 1,140 in Oct 2019.

An ECC meeting chaired by Adviser to PM on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, on Wednesday approved proposal of Ministry of National Food for release of 300,000 tons each to governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh and 50,000 tons to the government of Balochistan. The meeting approved Rs 2.745 billion to be paid to PASSCO as incidental charges on 50/50 basis to be shared between the center and provinces.

The government also released, earlier, 250,000 tons of wheat to the governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from PASSCO stocks following the ECC decision of Oct 2. However as the price of flour kept increasing, the ECC decided to release more wheat to the provinces.

The Ministry of National Food informed the ECC that PASSCO and provincial food departments had reported their stocks at the level of 6.444 million tons compared to 10.093 million tons for the same period a year before and despite the fact that the total availability of wheat was estimated at the level of 28.256 million tons, including the leftover stock of 3.777 million tons, the prices of wheat and flour still showed upward trend in the local market, the ECC was told.

The ECC also considered two separate proposals put up by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs for payment of different outstanding amounts by WAPDA and Pakistan State Oil to the Port Qasim Authority and constituted a committee under Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar to resolve the issue of outstanding payments to Port Qasim Authority.

The ECC was told that WAPDA owed an amount of Rs 1.076 billion to Karachi Port Trust after 52 consignments imported by WAPDA were cleared by the KPT Board on WAPDA's request on deferred payment and following approval of the federal government.

The ECC was told that Wapda paid Rs 334 million against Rs 1.41 billion and Rs 1.076 billion are pending. The other payment was related to the Petroleum Division which owed an amount of Rs 1.696 billion to the Port Qasim Authority for wharfage charges against the LNG imported by Pakistan State Oil. The ECC formed a committee headed by minister for economic affairs to examine the matter and suggest a solution within two weeks for resolution of the issue.

The ECC also approved a technical supplementary grant of Rs 706.050 million with Rs 650.426 million current and Rs 55.624 million development expenditure, to the Ministry of Human Rights subsequent to the cabinet's decision to transfer the functions, subjects and organizations - administrative and financial matters - of the Special Education & Social Welfare along with their allied institutions from Federal Education and Professional Training Division to the Human Right Division.

The ECC also approved a proposal of the Ministry of Interior for grant of a technical supplementary grant amounting to Rs 100 million, Rs 43 million for employee related expenses and Rs 57 million for operating expenditures.

The ECC was told that the ICT administration has already implemented the part of approved summary by the prime minister dealing with the collection of taxes on increased rates and is way ahead of its revenue collection targets while 125 new posts have also been agreed for creation among the Finance, Establishment and Interior Divisions for revamping the departments as per the approved summary.

The ECC also considered supply of gas to Habibullah Coastal Power Company (HCPC) and approved a proposal by the Petroleum Division for supply of indigenous gas for the interim period of 3 to 6 months, purely on 'as and when available basis' with no liquidated damages attached, to HCPC, during which period the supply of RLNG could be evaluated together with commercial terms, if CPPA agreed to switch the plant on RLNG and extend the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) accordingly.

The ECC also approved a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Energy for allocation of up to 8 MMcfd gas from Chabbaro and up to 10 MMscfd gas from Gundanwari to the M/s SSGCL with the price of gas as per the applicable Petroleum Policy.

The ECC also approved a proposal submitted by Ministry of Energy with regard to uniform seasonal pricing structure of "use more electricity-pay less" to be applicable during the four winter months from November 2019 to February 2020, at the rate of Rs 11.9 per unit on all units consumed over and above the units consumed in the corresponding months last year by the consumers using Domestic Consumers (5kW and above), ToU meters, commercial consumers 95kW and above), ToU meters, and all except temporary industrial consumers.

The ECC was informed that the proposal was aimed at utilizing the massive surplus electricity during the winter months when the demand plunges to 8000-9000 MW from an installed capacity of 35,000 MW. The Ministry of Energy said the proposal was based on similar models adopted in various countries, including Chile, and it was expected to lead to utilization of additional electricity to the tune of Rs 24 billion in four months.

The ECC on a proposal of the Ministry of Energy also extended the timeline by another 1.5 year for the commencement of competitive market operations/commercial operation date of the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contracts Market (CTBCM) to allow completion of CTBCM plan within 18 months after approval of CTBCM plan by NEPRA.

The ECC also approved the proposal for NEPRA to amend the timelines of market transition towards a Competitive Market Operations/CTBCM operations mentioned in Schedule-I of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Market Operator Registration, Standards and Procedure) Rules, 2015.