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ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: The inaugural session of the National Assembly will be held on Nov 6, and the process to transfer power to the elected representatives will be completed by Nov 14, an official source told Dawn on Thursday.
The cabinet had finalized the schedule for transfer of power and fixed Nov 6 for the inaugural session of the National Assembly, the source said.
According to the plan approved by the cabinet on Thursday, the Constitution would be restored the same day on which the president and the prime minister would be administered the oath.
However, an official press release quoted President Pervez Musharraf as having told the cabinet that the NA session would be summoned soon after the results of the elections to the reserved seats for women and minorities were announced.
“There was no cause of delaying the summoning of the inaugural session,” the president said.
He described the post-election scenario as a great opportunity for the political leadership to develop and strengthen the inter-provincial and intra-provincial harmony.
The president expressed the confidence that the elected representatives would demonstrate tolerance, understanding and a sense of accommodation for each other. Harmony amongst and within the provinces, he stressed, could only be achieved through a fair distribution of resources, judicious planning and location of development projects and good governance.
The president apprised the cabinet about his visit to Saudi Arabia in which he had held wide-ranging discussions with King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah. There was commonality of views on all bilateral, regional and international issues between the two countries.
APPROVAL: The cabinet approved the second flood protection sector project for immediate implementation at a reformulated cost of Rs4.6 billion against the originally approved cost of Rs8 billion in 1998.
The project shall now be implemented on the integrated river management basis with design of structures to be determined in light of the results of model studies.
Most of the structures proposed to be undertaken under the project are vital. The project envisaged the installation of a flood forecasting radar at Mangla aimed at covering the Indian catchment, besides strengthening the gauging system.
A budgetary allocation of Rs500 million for execution of the project during the financial year 2002-03 was approved.
To continue the development and production work of relevant oil and gas concessions, the cabinet approved one-time dispensation to provide funds to M/s Government Holdings out of the sale proceeds of the seven recently-privatized oil and gas fields.
The cabinet approved the promulgation of ‘Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance-2002’ aimed at regulating the use of boilers for providing protection against accidents.
