ISLAMABAD, May 23 (APP):The Economic Coordination
Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) here on Monday approved Special Ramadan Package worth Rs 1.75 billion for providing relief to consumers in the holy month, as compared to Rs 1.5 billion given last year.
The Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq
Dar chaired the meeting of the ECC held at the Prime
Minister’s Secretariat.
The Ramadan package would cover 22 essential items available at the Utility Store Corporation of Pakistan (USC) according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance here on Monday.
The meeting was informed that as directed by the Prime
Minister the USC was already providing concession on different items since April 27 which would also continue in Ramadan. The relief on different items ranges from Rs 4 to Rs 50.
It is pertinent to mention that overall USC would provide 5 to 10% discount on more than 1000 items for the month
of Ramadan through arrangements with vendors or reducing its own profit margins.
The ECC also approved grant of Tax Exemption under
Gwadar Port Concession Agreement for Operation and Development of Gwadar Port.
Tax Holiday shall be provided to the businesses to be
established in the free zone for a period of 23 years.
The ECC also granted approval for the allocation of
60MMCFD additional available gas from HRL (Habib Rahi
Limestone) Reservoir of Mari Gas to Thermal Power Station
Guddu (TPSG) /GENCO- II.
On this occasion Secretary Water and Power, Younus
Dhaga, informed the Committee that as compared to May 2015, when the total power generation was 14100 MW, this year “we have optimized generation and took it to 16300 MW in the current month”.
The Finance Minister appreciated the efforts of the Water and Power Ministry in effectively dealing with energy crisis and said that “we shall make available 10,000 additional MWs by 2018 as promised by the PML-N in its manifesto.”