ISLAMABAD: The Annual Plan Coordination Committee is all set to accord approval to Rs900 billion outlay for the federal development programme on Friday , including lunching of Special Regional.
Top Story
May 28, 2021
ISLAMABAD: The Annual Plan Coordination Committee is all set to accord approval to Rs900 billion outlay for the federal development programme on Friday (today), including lunching of Special Regional Equalization Programme with an allocation of Rs133 billion for the upcoming budget.
The Planning Commission could not finalise the GDP growth projection for the next fiscal year as discussions were underway to fix the next fiscal year target between 4.5 to 5 percent after in-depth consultation and ownership of all stakeholders. The working paper was sent to ministries/ departments and provinces without envisaging the GDP growth figures on Thursday evening; however, inflation is projected at over 8.2 percent for the next fiscal year.
Reviving rail routes
January 31, 2021
It emerged at a meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas when a panel member told officials of the Pakistan Railways that during the British era there was a profitable railway line in Balochistan but now it had been dismantled. Possibly, he was talking about the Zhob-Quetta route, which was closed down in 1991 because of ‘consistent losses’. The panel asked the railway officials to restore the Quetta-Zahedan route at the earliest as it would facilitate pilgrims. Replying to a question about the delay in restoring the Harnai-Sibi route, the officials informed that so far of the 140-km-long railway line, restoration work on only 50kms had been completed and work on the rest 91kms had been stalled due to the law and order situation. The committee emphasised that recruitment of locals in the railway police would solve this problem. This is a sensible suggestion. It instructed the Railway Ministry to complet
Delays in restoring train services irk Senate panel
Directs completion of Harnai-Sibi route in four months, restoration of Quetta-Karachi line as soon as possible
ISLAMABAD:
The Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas has directed the Ministry of Railways to restore the Sibi-Harnai route in Balochistan in four months and submit a report.
Chairman Senator Usman Khan Kakar recalled that former railways minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had pledged on this very floor of the house in January 2019 that the services would be restored within three months.
“We will move a privilege motion against the former minister on behalf of the committee for not fulfilling his promise,” Senator Kakar said while presiding over the committee’s session at the Parliament Lodges on Friday.
All provinces except Punjab self-sufficient in gas
Senate panel laments that Balochstan facing gas shortage despite being a gas producer
PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
All provinces except Punjab are self-sufficient in terms of gas production with Sindh producing the greatest quantity of natural gas, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) officials told the Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas on Friday.
According to Ogra, Punjab, the most populous province, produces 92 million cubic feet (MMCF) of gas but it consumes 950 MMCF. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produces 366 MMCF while it consumes 317 MMCF.
Sindh produces 2,225 MMCF and consumes 1,562 MMCF while Balochistan produces 651 MMCF against its consumption of 405 MMCF as per production and consumption records of June 2020.