ECC approves 3-month salaries to Steel Mills workers

ISLAMABAD: The meeting of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, on Friday approved an amount of Rs. 1140 million as three months salaries (Jan to March, 2018) for the employees of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation.

The meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Pakistan Steel Mills workers staged a protest a day ago against non-payment of last four months’ salaries and other benefits. The protesters blocked the main railway line ML-1, causing trains to be delayed from reaching Karachi.  The ECC decision comes right after the workers protest.

The meeting also 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 anomalies in the proposed amendments.

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 have 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 Pakarab Fertilizer Ltd. (PFL) in order to optimally utilize its available installed capacity, encourage indigenous production of fertilizers and to lessen 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 of 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 05 localities for SNGPL and 06 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.