The National Assembly was informed Monday that there has been no change in the original plan of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
During the questions hour, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Development Saqlain Bukhari said all parts of the country will be linked through this corridor, which is not the name of any single road but a network of roads connecting all provinces. He added that rehabilitation of Karakoram Highway is underway and 437 kilometres long road between Raikot and Islamabad is a part of this project.
The parliamentary secretary said that the corridor is a comprehensive package of cooperative initiatives and projects. It covers key areas of connectivity, information network infrastructure, energy cooperation, industries and industrial parks. The corridor will go a long way to ensure agriculture development, alleviation of poverty and promotion of tourism.
Replying to a call attention notice moved by Siraj Muhammad Khan, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali told the House that the duration of load-shedding in cities is six to seven hour, in villages nine to ten and on industrial feeders the duration is eight hours.
Parliamentary Secretary for Interior Maryam Aurangzeb told the House that government is committed to achieving the target of opening passport offices in all districts of the country to facilitate the public. She said budget for 73 passport offices has already been approved and hiring of staff is in process.
Regarding installation of Machine Readable Passport units in all foreign missions of Pakistan, she informed out of 93 missions, 40 are lacking MRPs. She said according to international civil aviation targets, MRPs would be installed in all foreign missions by the end of November this year.
To a question, Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Secretariat Raja Javed Ikhlas told the House that the current government during the past one year, pension of retired employees has been doubled from previous. He said government is considering further increase in pension.
To another question, he said last census was carried out by PML-N in 1998. He said the date of next census has been announced and the government is committed to complete much awaited task.
Replying to a question, Raja Javed Ikhlas said government has been maintaining strict eye on all indicators of the economy. He said government will achieve the proposed target of growth rate by the end of July this year. Six ordinances were laid before the House.
These included The Safeguard Measures (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 (No. 2 of 2015), The Countervailing Duties Ordinance, 2015 (No. 3 of 2015), The Anti-Dumping Duties Ordinance, 2015 (No. 4 of 2015), The National Tariff Commission Ordinance, 2015 (No. 5 of 2015), The General Election 2013 Inquiry Commission Ordinance, 2015 (No 7 of 2015) and The Publication of Laws of Pakistan (Regulation) Ordinance, 2015 (No. 8 of 2015). The ordinances were moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad.
Three bills were introduced in the House: The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which It amends the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, The National Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill, 2015 which provides the constitution of a National Commission on the rights of the child and of matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, and The National University of Medical Sciences Bill, 2015 which provides to establish the National University of Medical Sciences.
The bills were introduced by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad. The House will now meet on Wednesday.
