Federal cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Monday approved setting up of the LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) Air Mix Plants at Murree, Awaran and Bella apparently to save these areas from the rapid deforestation.
ECC gave its approval while considering a proposal sent by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources. The Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, chaired the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet here at the Prime Minister’s office.
According to the finance ministry, ECC has approved the setting up of LPG Air Mix Plants at Murree (Kurbagla, Dewal, Company Bagh and Tret), Awaran and Bella, at an estimated cost of Rs 1353.29 million to be funded by the respective Gas Utility Companies (SSGCL and SNGPL) through their own resources.
“For housing colonies, the private sector is free to establish their own LPG Air Mix plants, subject to the fulfillment of all legal formalities such as OGRA licensing, explosive licenses etc” the finance ministry said.
It was also decided that in addition to the above mentioned plants, 30 new Air mix plants, each on SSGCL and SNGPL system, will be constructed in the areas of AJK, Chitral, Gilgit Baltistan and in severely underdeveloped areas of Balochistan; the development of these areas, the ECC statement reads, is the first priority of the government. The setting up of LPG Air Mix Plants will save these areas from the rapid deforestation in these areas due to the public need for fuel, it said.
The ECC also considered and approved a summary moved by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions for the provision of 50,000 metric tons of wheat costing Rs.2.007 billion to the United Nations World Food Program for the temporarily displaced people (TDPs) of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, chaired the ECC meeting held at the Prime Minister’s office on Monday.
The ECC meeting decided that the approved quantity of the wheat would be distributed among targeted populations of TDPs from December 2016 to June 2017. It is worth mentioning here that the quantity is the second such approval after the provision of 124,000 metric tons of wheat costing Rs 4.977 billion to the displaced population; the stocks from the earlier grant will be exhausted in November, as reported by the World Food Program.
ECC also approved, after detailed briefing by the Ministry of Water and Power, the issuance of second revised Government of Pakistan Sovereign Guarantees up to Rs 30612.60 million for the 425 MW Nandipur power project. These guarantees will remain valid till May 31, 2017.
ECC also approved and ordered the notification of the Price Negotiation Committee (PNC) for LNG supplies from Malaysia, Russia, France, Italy, Oman and Azerbaijan in the view of the growing energy demand in the country. ECC also decided that the PNC will engage with all the energy supplying companies in the process to finalize the best deal for the country.
ECC also approved the proposal by Ministry of Water and Power for utilization of power generated through captive power plants, as a short term measure, in order to optimize use of available generation in the coming summers of 2017 and 2018. The measure taken by the Ministry will add around 300_600MW to the National grid on the following conditions.
Plants of the capacity of 3 MW or above running on gas, furnace oil, coal, bagasse and other fuels/sources will be offered energy purchase under this policy. B) Tariff shall be based on take and pay basis, and electricity actually delivered to the national grid. C) These plants shall not be entitled to any capacity charges/payments.
