ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz on Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan "saved Rs 2,344 billion of the poor people through his strategy and efforts in the last two years," which, he said is more than the country's three-year development budget.

In a tweet, the minister said that $ 7 billion were saved in Rekodiq Project which was equal to Rs 1,100 billion whereas $ 1.5 billion were saved in Karkey project which were equal to Rs 240 billion.

Rs 400 billion were saved in Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) whereas Rs 604 billion would be saved in new agreement with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), the tweet said.

Interestingly, Rs 400, which the minister claimed that the PM has saved, is yet to be recovered from the powerful commercial and industrial entities.

Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to recover over Rs 400 billion GIDC dues from consumers in 24 instalments.

The apex court dismissed all the appeals and petitions of industrial and commercial entities, and held levy imposed under Gas Infrastructure Development Cess Act, 2015 is in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

The court ruled that application of the GIDC between 2011 and 2015 had accumulated a total amount of Rs 700 billion, specifically for three pipeline and infrastructure projects, out of which about Rs 295 billion had been collected and Rs 405 billion would be recovered now.

The federal government welcomed this decision. "Welcoming decision of the Supreme Court settling long-standing GIDC case, and enabling the govt to recover GIDC stuck-up for last many years.

I want to appreciate the good work of the govt team, especially office of the Attorney General, and the Finance & Petroleum ministries," Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said in a tweet on Thursday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020