ECC imposes uniform 25pc duty on import of wheat, its products

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) that met here on Thursday lifted the ban on the import of wheat but imposed a uniform 25 percent regulatory duty on the import of wheat and wheat products. This was done on the proposal forwarded by Ministry of National Food Security and Research. The decision was taken to support the local farmers, who had been adversely affected by the decreasing international wheat prices.
The ECC meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, also extended the period for the export of 1.2 million tons of wheat for the Punjab and Sindh by one month. The new cutoff date for Sindh will now be April 30 and for Punjab May 15.
The meeting also approved a number of projects and policy documents including the National Aviation Policy. The National Aviation Policy 2015 aims to turn the aviation sector into a truly vibrant sector of the economy. The previous aviation policy was approved in the year 2000.
In the backdrop of numerous changes in the aviation industry all over the world, the new policy has been developed by the Aviation Division after seeking inputs from all the stakeholders, said Shujaat Azim, special assistant to prime minister on aviation.
He briefed the meeting about the salient features of the policy and said that smaller aircraft would be used to provide air services between smaller cities. Cargo facilities will be enhanced and cargo villages will be established in the Northern and Southern parts of the country. With the new aviation policy the current capacity of handling 130,000 metric tons of cargo will be doubled, Azeem told the committee.
The Finance Minister said, “We hope that in the next budget which is just two months away, we will be able to announce incentives for the aviation sector in line with the new policy.”The meeting also approved the proposal of the Privatization Division to levy 12.5% regulatory duty on import of hot rolled products, pipes and all such imported items.
The meeting also approved an amount of Rs96 million for the payment of three months’ salary to the employees of Pakistan Machine Tools Factory (PMTF) Karachi. The forum also gave consent for the provision of another 40,000 metric tons of wheat to the United Nations World Food Programme for the temporarily displaced persons of North Waziristan Agency and KP.
The committee approved the proposal submitted by the ministry of national food security and research for providing commodity finance for public sector procurement of wheat for 2014-15. The financial requirements for this year’s procurement will be around Rs222 billion and it is expected that the four provinces and PASSCO will procure around 6.6 million tons of wheat.
On a proposal from the ministry of water and power the ECC approved the standardized project agreements for solar energy based projects under the policy for development of renewable energy for power generation. Accordingly AEDB was authorised to make any project-specific amendments in these standardized project agreements for solar power projects as required during negotiations that do not increase GoP obligations or liabilities beyond those stipulated in the said project agreements.
It may be mentioned that GoP policy for developing renewable energy for power generation (2006) provides for standard agreements for grid-connected renewable energy IPPs. These standardized agreements include the Implementation Agreement (IA) and the Energy Purchase Agreement (EPA) which provide the legal and contractual framework for the design, financing, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of power projects based on solar energy.
Similarly ECC on another proposal from the ministry of water and power, accorded approval for standardized security documents for coal power projects under the Policy for Power Generation Projects 2015. Simultaneously, the ECC approved supplemental agreement with the provision that the revolving account (equal to 22% of monthly invoicing) for the CPEC Power Projects be opened and maintained by the power purchaser for which the ministry of finance would provide the guarantee to fund such revolving account in case the power purchaser failed to place or maintain the required funds in such account. Further, as requested in the proposal, the ECC authorised the board of PPIB to make and approve project-specific amendments in the standardized coal security package documents required during negotiations provided GOP obligations or liabilities were not adversely affected.