Wheat procurement target not achieved: Cement to replace bitumen
By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: The government on Wednesday decided to start construction of roads with cement instead of bitumen and imposed a new cess at the rate of Rs5 per bale to raise Rs70 million every year to run the Pakistan Cotton Standardisation Institute (PCSI).
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet took these and was informed that the current year’s wheat procurement target could not be achieved, mainly because of the Punjab government and Passco. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz presided over the meeting.
Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan, economic adviser to the ministry of finance, did not respond when asked why the decision was taken at a time when there was a serious cement price crisis. He, however, agreed that surplus bitumen would be exported and roads constructed with cement would last longer than the ones made with bitumen.
Mr Khan said the ECC was informed that target for procurement of 5 million tons of wheat fixed for the current year by the government could not be achieved and total procurement stood at 90.3 per cent. This was mainly because of 15 per cent and five per cent less than targeted procurement by the Punjab and Passco, respectively.
He said that the Punjab government had procured only 2.56 million tons of wheat against a target of three million tons and achieved 85.4 per cent of the target given by the centre. Likewise, Passco procured 1.24 million tons of wheat against a target of 1.3 million tons or 95.6 per cent of the target.
He denied that the Punjab government had flouted prime minister’s directive to achieve wheat procurement target and said total wheat stocks stood at 6.477 million tons as of Aug 14 this year compared with 4.1 million tons in the same period last year and there was “nothing to worry about”.
He said the ECC provided an opportunity to Fatima Fertilizer Company of Sheikh Mukhtar group complete all requirements of financial close and provide bank guarantees within 90 days to start construction of a fertilizer plant for which the ECC had allocated 75 MMCFD of gas about two years ago, otherwise, the project would be considered as ‘dead’.
He said the Engineering Development Board had found out that after more than 18 months that the company had made no progress on the project.
Mr Khan said the ECC meeting also approved the procurement of 48 transformers of 132/11-KV by electric power distribution companies at the cost of Rs5.8 billion to overcome the current power breakdowns.
He said the ECC also allowed Wapda to hire a 150-MW thermal power station from the US-based GE Energy at a tariff of 3.13 cents per unit, excluding the fuel cost. He said that the plant would be installed in Lahore, Gujranwala or Faisalabad.
He said that the ECC allowed leasing of two concrete sleeper factories of Pakistan Railways in Kotri and Kohat to the private sector. The sleepers would be sold back to the Pakistan Railways. He said two private companies would make ‘mono block’ concrete at Rs1,900 per metre and ‘long ties’ at Rs1,700 per metre but the Railways Board was directed to approve the prices.
Mr Khan said the ECC also praised the performance of the CBR for collection of revenue of Rs46.26 billion in July alone, which was 33.5 per cent higher than the past year’s collection of Rs34.6 billion.
