43 projects of $24.7bn completed under CPEC, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday presented the details of the amount received through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the National Assembly as officials of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives told the House that a total of 43 projects worth around $24.703 billion have been completed with the cooperation of China under CPEC. Moreover, eight projects of $759.56 million were currently under implementation.

The details of funding of the projects under the CPEC were presented in reply to a question of Tahira Aurangzeb during the Question-Hour.

Providing the details of the ongoing eight projects, the National Assembly was told that two projects were in Balochisatan, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while one each in Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad and one all over Pakistan.

The two projects in Balochistan include Infrastructure of Gwadar Free Zone Phase-II with a mode of FDI and Bostan Special Economic Zone with mode of public-private partnership (PPP).

The two KP projects include Rashaki Special Economic Zone with a mode of FDI/ PPP of $146 million and Maintenance and Renovation of 50 Schools in Newly Merged Districts with a grant of Rs15.7 million. The project of Sindh Dhabeji Special Economic Zone is going on with a mode of private investment/ PPP of $27 million.

The project of Punjab is about Allama Iqbal Industrial City (AIIC) with ADP assistance worth $160 million. The project of Islamabad is Bacerial Grass (Juncao) Training and Promotion Project with grant of $3.66 million. The project of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Flood affected Infrastructure in all over Pakistan is going on with grant of $116 million.

The Finance Ministry told the National Assembly that the current account deficit (CAD) has declined significantly by 79 percent to $217 million in the first two months of the current fiscal compared to the same period last year. In August, a surplus was recorded and this sharp reduction in the CAD is primarily due to robust inflows of remittances and stable export earnings, which have helped manage the rising import bill.

In a reply to another question, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Wajiha Qamar informed the National Assembly that the Gwadar Port was operational, and equipped to handle general cargo, containers and other operations. She said the port accommodates vessels of up to 50,000 DWT (deadweight) and possesses the requisite infrastructure to support bulk cargo and container handling efficiently. Qamar said multiple shipments under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement have been successfully processed.

The Ministry of Finance told the National Assembly that the government has collected Rs338 billion from mobile phone bills as advance tax under Section 236 of the Income Tax ordinance 2001 during the last five years.

Replying to a question of Syed Rafiullah, the ministry told the House that during the year 2020 Rs50 billion had been collected as advance tax from mobile companies, Rs55 billion in 2021, Rs61 billion in 2022, Rs80 billion in 2023 and Rs92 billion in the year 2024. The data related to number of users and average usage of mobile services by citizen is not available with the FBR and falls in the domain of the Ministry of Information Technology. The ministry clarified that the advance income tax collected from mobile users is an adjustable tax as per the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and any taxpayer can claim as refund in his income tax return. Moreover, it was informed that there was no differential treatment available in the Income Tax Ordinance 2002 for beneficiaries of any charitable scheme on levying of any advance tax.