ECC considers proposal of ensuring tax exemptions at Gwadar Port, Gwadar Free Zone

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday considered a proposal for introducing necessary amendments in the relevant laws for the purpose of ensuring tax exemptions at the Gwadar Port and Gwadar Free Zone and constituted a committee to remove any anomaly in the proposed amendments.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet.

The ECC also considered the issue of allocation of site to private LNG developers for establishment of LNG Terminal. It was decided that only those sites at Port Qasim would be allocated for the establishment of LNG Floating Terminal which had been declared safe after undertaking Quantitative Risk Assessment.

The meeting approved a proposal to allocate 35 MMCFD Mari shallow gas and 40 MMCFD of Mari Deep gas to Pak-Arab Fertilizer Ltd. (PFL) in order to optimally utilize its available installed capacity, encourage indigenous production of fertilizers and to lesson reliance on imported urea.

In order to address the issue of disparity in the sale price and the revenues of SNGPL and SSGCL, the ECC constituted a committee comprising members from Petroleum Division, OGRA, Finance and Planing, Development & Reforms Division to examine the option of replacing the weighted average cost gas (WACOG) equalization arrangement with a new arrangement of weighted average sale price (WASP) equalization arrangement.

The committee will examine all aspects of natural gas sale pricing mechanism and would submit its recommendation to the Cabinet within three months.

The ECC also approved five localities for SNGPL and six for SSGCL for setting up LPG Air Mix Plants for the purpose of supply of gas to the residents. The SNGPL localities include Bisham, Upper Dir, Kana, Alpuri, and Narrar in Punjab. The SSGCL localities include Dalbandin, Taftan, Zheri, Bekar, Kunri and Killi Balozai.

The ECC also approved an amount of Rs. 1140 million as three months salaries (Jan to March, 2018) for the employees of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC).