Punjab proposes road tax based on fuel consumption

Punjab Finance Minister Husnain Bhadur Dreshak has said that the they have proposed to the federal government to allow them to collect road tax, in lieu of vehicle tax, which would be calculated on petrol consumption per vehicle thus higher petrol user would pay more tax.
He was addressing a post-budget press conference here on Friday. Planning and Development Board Punjab (P&D) Chairman Suleman Ghani was also present on the occasion.
The Finance Minister said that in this connection the Punjab government had the support of both Sindh and NWFP but the federal government is yet to reach a final decision. "We have also sought permission of the Centre to levy some service taxes in the province as we are trying to increase our capacity to collect service taxes that would reduce dependence of the province on the Centre," he added.
On Kalabagh Dam, he said that they had taken up the matter with the federal government and hoped that land acquisition for the dam would be completed during the next fiscal year.
On Ghazi Brotha royalty, the minister observed that it was Punjab's constitutional right and it has agreed to the same profit that was agreed with NWFP after arbitration. The decision of arbitration had been challenged in the Supreme Court, they expected to receive Punjab's due share after the decision of the apex court, he added.
To a question about agriculture sector, Dreshak said the agriculture's share in Annual Development Programme (ADP) had been increased from two percent of the last budget to three percent in the current budget and termed the fiscal year 2007-08 the year of reforms in agriculture.
Talking about the grant of Rs 500 for a poor family announced in the budget, he said that the grant was for the poorest of the poor in the province. He further said that these families were selected from already existing lists of Sasta Atta scheme, Zakat and Usher schemes. He rejected that the scheme was a part of an election stunt. "The Punjab government would also give micro finance loans to this segment of the society in this fiscal year," he added.
To a question, Suleman Ghani said that the Punjab government had focused on infrastructure development and in this connection it would issue Rs 6 billion municipal bond locally, in fiscal year 2007-08.
On Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System (LRMTS), he said that it would be built on BOT basis and the government would itself develop the infrastructure. "For this project the government would get loan of $1.4 billion from the Asian Development Bank and $1 billion from international financial markets. The LRMTS was the most viable project and everyone in the international market was ready to finance it," he added.