KARACHI, March 28: The Ministry of Petroleum has directed all semi-government refineries and affiliated corporations/companies, particularly the National Refinery Limited and PERAC , to curtail their non-development expenditure being incurred in various oil refining sections.

According to sources, in a series of special correspondence between the ministry and NRL during December 2003-February 2004, it was revealed that an amount of Rs7.372 million had been spent in excess to the allocated amount of Rs27.457 millions. The ministry said that such an excessive expenditure should not become a routine.

It maintained that "in order to strengthen and formalize corporate decision-making process, significant issues shall be placed for the information, consideration and decisions of BoD of listed companies."

It further said that all the comprehensive policies and decisions taken by the Board of Directors be taken as the final decisions. The ministry, according to sources, has taken notice of the alleged mismanagement in the engineering department which had led to the exorbitant rise in internal expenses.