The Prime Minister was talking to the members of the Task Force on Private Sector Development who met him here at PM’ House this afternoon.

The Prime Minister while appreciating the contribution of the Task Force on Private Sector Development, said the private sector has a major role in the development of economy. He emphasized on the optimal utilization of the potential of the private sector.

The Prime Minister said the government intends to take all stakeholders on board while formulating policies which in line with government’s political approach. The process of consultation and interaction at policy making level, he added, ultimately benefits the implementation of the policies.

The Prime Minister said that the objective of economic and business related policies is to ensure overall development and economic prosperity of the common people. It is therefore imperative, he added, that policies reflect the aspirations of the people and prove beneficial for everybody.

Earlier the members of the Task Force briefed the Prime Minister on the deliberations of four previous meetings held on this subject. The Co-Chairman of the Task Force Mr. Shahid Javed Burki apprised the meeting that they have identified eight areas requiring focused attention. The areas he mentioned relate to improving the overall regulatory framework helping smooth functioning of the national economy. The areas identified were to broaden the tax base, evaluation of cost benefit of subsidies, minimal issuance of SROs, introduction of modern technology by business firms, business friendly laws and regulations, familiarization with international best practices and improvement of physical infrastructure like ports, railways and highways.

The members also showed interest to be associated in the process of implementation of their recommendations if so required to help achieve better results.

The members of the Task Force were Chairman Descon Engeering Ltd, Mr. Abul Razzak Dawood, CEO Engro Chemical Pakistan, Mr. Asad Umar, Former Chief Economist Mr. Pervez Hasan, and CEO Pakistan-Japan Buisness Forum Mr. Abdul Kadeer Jaffer.

The meeting was also attended by Acting Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr. Ishfaq Ahmed, Chariman BOI, Mr. Saleem H. Mandviwala, Chief Executive TDAP, Syed Mohibullah Shah, Secretaries of Planning Commission, Commerce, Industries and Production and Privatization and other senior government officials.

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The ECC approved the revised policy on Public Private Partnership (PPP) wherein the gaps and deficiencies of the earlier policy have been filled/removed. Salient features of the revised policy include:

i. The revised PPP Policy clarifies the concept of Public Private Partnership which was missing in the previous policy and gives more detailed scope of the PPP Policy with its benefits and key objectives.

ii. Role of different institutions have been further clarified by introducing a separate section on “Institutional Arrangements” in PPP Policy 2009. The role of MoF, IPDF, Planning Commission, Line Ministries and relevant departments at national, provincial and local levels has been defined in the section.

iii. The revised policy, 2009 describes the overall framework for revenue and payments to concessionaries covering tariffs, unitary payments, government support in the shape of Viable Gap Funding (VGF) and long term funding through IPFF.

iv. The revised policy provides an appropriate legal framework for PPP projects in the country. The legal framework being a part and parcel of the policy makes the private investors more secure and safe. This legal framework is missing in the existing policy.

v. Simple and unambiguous processes/procedures are pre-requisite for successful PPP transactions. In the revised policy a description of approval process by relevant Public Sector PPP institution has been elaborately defined.

vi. Risk sharing mechanism which was not described in the previous policy has now been covered in a detailed manner describing Risk Identification, Risk Allocation, Risk Mitigation and Guarantees.

vii. The revised policy has further strengthened the unsolicited proposals.

On the recommendation of Ministry of Information Technology, the ECC withdrew its earlier decision of December 6, 2006 regarding substitution/up-gradation of NTC fiber pair from 622 MBPS to 10 GBPS on DWDM through private investment.

The ECC meeting was briefed on key economic indicators. It was informed that the overall CPI-based inflation registered decrease of 0.49 percent in December 2009 over November, 2009. The meeting was also informed that the stock of wheat as on January 18, 2010 amounted to 6.29 million tons as against 1.97 million tons in the same period last year, thereby showing a higher stock of about 4.32 million tons compared with last year. About the position of trade, the meeting was informed that trade deficit improved by 29.0 percent to $ 7.0 billion in July-December 2009-10 from $ 10.0 billion in the same period last year. Workers remittances amounted to $ 4,531.0 million in July-December 2009-10 as against $ 3,640.0 million, showing an increase of 25.0 percent over the same period last year. The foreign exchange reserves stood at $ 15.1 billion as on January 22, 2010- up from $ 6.4 billion on November 25, 2008. This reflects the impact of recent disbursement of $ 1.2 billion from the IMF and other inflows. The provisional FBR tax collection stood at Rs.579.5 billion on net basis during July-December 2009-10 as compared to Rs.553.8 billion in the same period last year, thereby posting an increase of 4.6 percent.

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“This is not tolerable and we will start action against those industries which are polluting environment, he said while responding to questions of media at a reception & interactive discussion on environmental problems organized by by the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH). Chairman CNG Station Owners Association Malik Khuda Baksh, Director General SEPA Naeem Mughal, , president NFEH Naeem Qureshi, Afia Salam of IUCN, Gulzar Firoz chairman standing committee on Environment FPCCI also addressed on the occasion

Minister Said “This campaign has not been withdrawn due to pressure. A time period was given to 100 industrial units in SITE and Korangi industrial areas by the former minister to improve situation by making internal arrangements for waste disposal special waste water”,

Industrial units mostly textile and chemicals do not have treatment plants and they discharge their effluent into main drain thus polluting Lyari and Malir rivers. he added.

He said that industrial units do not allow our inspectors to enter their factories and use various pressure tactics to get away from routine inspections.

“I have issued instructions to Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to take action against polluting industrial units and do not afraid of pressure. I will take the pressure you do you work without fear”, he maintained.

Referring to heavy smoke emitting public transport, he said that efforts are on to have a law for arresting the polluters as a deterrent. He said smoke emitting vehicles will be issued red stickers and will be asked to repair the cause. After repair they will be issued green stickers for playing on road, he noted.

He pointed out that a new law was in offing to increase the thickness of polythene bags and use of degradable material in plastic bags.

Shaikh Azfal said that his department has sought a separate budget to launch the publicity campaign to create awareness about environment among the people. We are also considering to include environment as subject in the syllabus of class three, he added.

The minister also appreciated the role of NFEH for creating awareness about the environment and highlighting cases of pollution in the country.

Chairman FPCCI sub committee on Environment Gulzar Firoz said that the Federation will not protect the polluters. He said that textile mills were the biggest polluters.

Malik Khuda Baksh said that vehicular pollution has been reduced by 20 percent in the country after the conversion of 2.5 million vehicles from fossil fuel to compressed natural gas (CNG). CNG sector should be protected for the sake of environment.

Director General SEPA Naeem Mughal, Shahbaz Beg, Professor Ejaz Farooqui Afia Salam of IUCN, president NFEH Naeem Qureshi, Jamshed bukhari , Idress Ghazi and representatives of Engro Chemicals Pakistan Refinery and Pakistan Steel others also spoke on the occasion.

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Madiha Ansari
Media Coordinator
021-35213853

The legality of the process through which a government department can own a private company is vague therefore it is exploited, said spokesman of PEW Mirza Riaz, in a statement issued here today.
Different organisations have made private companies through which hiring, firing, procurements, and awarding juicy contracts can be carried out bypassing the rules and regulations.

These companies are formed with government money yet they are not state-owned entities. Their assets, liabilities, spending, contracting, inventories etc remain beyond the jurisdiction of annual audits, he added.
Quoting an example, he said that Pakistan Revenue Automation Ltd. (PRAL) is a private organization which is owned by the FBR therefore gets almost all contracts without tenders.

“At the same time, it escapes all government obligations and controls on the plea that it is a private company,” said Riaz.

Sometimes, it represents FBR in the bidding process and later rejects the accomplished task to get contract itself. Later it announces successful completion of the project.

He also questioned the role of donor agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank etc., which are silent over this violation and pumping billion over the last 15 years to improve the working of apex tax collecting body.
The laid down procedure of inviting tenders for spending amount above Rs. 50,000 is openly being violated, noted Riaz.

He demanded valuation of success stories of PRAL, an audit of the past projects, stock inspection, state of hardware acquired by spending millions of dollars and independent audit of software developed at exorbitant cost.
If things were working well why the tax collectors are failing to meet the targets since long, he asked.

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Dr. Murtaza Mughal

President,

Pakistan Economy Watch
Cell: 0321-5157671
Web: www.pew.drmurtazamughal.org

The Minister also directed the Secretary, Religious Affairs to set up a high level inquiry to probe the case thoroughly and take strong action against those who are involved in the irregularities occurred during current Hajj season.

The Minister made these directives on his arrival from United Kingdom Sunday night. The Minister was on his personal visit to London for his treatment. He will again visit U.K in March for his final medical checkup.

The Minister also strongly condemned the Target Killings of Karachi as well as the terrorist acts on the “Day of Ashur” in Karachi. He said that he will soon visit Karachi to meet the Elites, Ulema and Mashaikh of the Metropoltan and would pursue them to play their role for removing of misunderstandings in order to restore harmony amongst various segments of the society. He also stressed the need for unity amongst various sects to combat the wave of terrorism in the city of Karachi with collective efforts.

He also condemned the on-going terrorist activities in the country and viewed that the people of the country have realized the true face of the mischief mongers who are out to disturb the peaceful situation of the country. He said that the activities of the terrorists are totally un-islamic rather earning bad name to Islam.  He once again urged the people to be united to foil the nefarious designs of the terrorists. He was of the view that the terrorist are killing the children of poor by preparing them as suicide attackers to target innocent people which is highly deplorable.

The Minister concluded that government was heading in right direction to finish the terrorists’ ugly game and hoped that the day was not for away when peace and harmony would prevail in the country.

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The meeting was presided over by the Chairman CCP, Mr. Khalid A. Mirza and attended by CCP members including Mr. Abdul Ghaffar, Ms. Maleeha Bangash and Dr. Joseph Wilson besides the representatives of academia, other sector specific regulators, legal community and the private sector.

Mr. Khalid Mirza apprised the CCG members of the measures taken by the CCP recently to promote competition in the country’s economy and curb cartelization in the various key sectors, mainly the cement industry, sugar industry, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and national airlines. He informed that investigations are underway in various other sectors, while the CCP has also initiated Competition Impact Assessment Studies in as many as 15 sectors of the economy.

Mr. Mirza added that CCP is also extending facilitation to the undertakings that are contemplating merger or acquisition and want to get informal and non binding view of CCP. For this purpose, an Acquisition and Merger Facilitation Office has been established. Similarly, he said, the Office of Fair Trade set up by the CCP ensures to redress deceptive marketing practices and to bridge the gap between CCP and the consumer, with the aim of identifying and providing solutions to the potential issues which pose or are likely pose problems for the consumers.

An important feature of the CCG meeting was a presentation made on the Competition Impact Assessment of Banking Sector by Dr. Agha Ghazanfer, the CCP’s Research Consultant. Mr. Ghazanfer emphasized in his presentation that there is a need of more competition in the Pakistani banking sector. “The only way to avoid ill-effects of competition — which bank regulators are often wary of — is to have more competition.”

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Asfandyar Khattak
Joint Director (Media & Communications)

Competition Commission of Pakistan
4-C, G-5, Diplomatic Enclave via Shams Gate, Islamabad
Contact # 051-9247531
Cell No. 0333 9124231

At the occasion the Minister applauded the efforts of Private Power and Infrastructure Board and all its members for their support to achieve the targets of the government. He advised that in order to be successful we not only need to encourage new investors but also provide out of the box support to projects in the pipeline so that they come online by the required timelines.

The progress of all the power projects was reviewed today. Managing Director PPIB gave a briefing on the status of power projects under process, based on actual site visits of the PPIB/ WPPO teams, on which the board expressed satisfaction. The Minister formed an inter ministerial committee to look into the policy of oil logistics for all future power plants.

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The ECC approved import of 0.6 million tons of urea through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP). The ECC instructed the TCP to float tenders in this regard so that the process is completed within shortest possible time.

The ECC expressed satisfaction that the stock of wheat as on September 25, 2009 amounted to 8.932 million tons as against 3.230 million tons in the same period last year thereby showing a higher stock of wheat of about 5.708 million tons. Wheat procurement target has crossed the proposed figure of 7.05 million tons and reached at 9.231 million tons as on September 7, 2009.

The meeting was told that there was decrease in core inflation rate from 14.0 percent in July 2009 to 12.60 percent in August 2009. The ECC was further informed that trade deficit improved by 38.5 percent to $ 2.19 billion in July-August 2009-10 from $ 3.56 billion in the same period last year.

It was also noted that workers remittances amounted to $ 1,525.4 million in July-August 2009-10 as against $ 1,219.5 million, showing an increase of 25.1 percent over the same period last year. As regards foreign exchange reserves, the ECC was told that the reserves stood at $ 14.4 billion as on September 10, 2009 – up from $ 6.4 billion on November 25, 2008. The provisional FBR tax collection stood at Rs.155.0 billion on net basis during July-August 2009-10.

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Rana Farooq said that this sector is providing livelihood to more than 10 million farming families while it provides 40% of the industrial employments. While expressing his views regarding cotton, he said that it is the great honor for us because Pakistan is fourth largest producer and 3^rd largest user of cotton. He told the delegation that due to energy crisis and other problems like quota system, textile sector has been effected adversely. But, government of PPP is giving extra ordinary concentration on this sector. Government is taking immediate measures to overcome energy crisis which is effecting every sector of our economy.

The farmers apprised the Minister about different problems faced by them. Rana Farooq assured them that agriculture is top priority of the government. Government will provide all possible facilities to the farmers he added. Federal Minister further said that all problems regarding cotton production, will be addressed through enforcement of the standards laid down in the Cotton Control Act and Cotton Standardization Ordinance. He said that special measures would be taken for grading and classifying the cotton in coordination with private sector. Moreover, new and modern kinds of cotton seeds would be introduced to maximize the cotton production. Likewise, immediate measures would be taken for their cultivation. Fertilizers and pesticides related issues also came under discussion. Rana Farooq Saeed Khan further told the delegation that new machinery and modern technology is being introduced likewise, research laboratories are also being established in agriculture sector.

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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), in collaboration with cellular mobile industry, has started the 1199 SMS Service for the welfare of these Internally Displaced Persons. Through this service, subscribers of all mobile operators would send an SMS to 1199 by writing FUND. Each SMS would be charged @ Rs. 10/- and the amount thus collected would be deposited in the “Prime Minister’s special Fund for Victims of Terrorism” for Internally Displaced Persons.

It is therefore appealed to people from all walks of life to come forward and contribute to this national cause by sending SMS to 1199 and thus contributing to the “Prime Minister’s special Fund for Victims of Terrorism” for the Internally Displaced Persons.

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