ECC approves grant of Rs459 million to deal with locust threat

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved a grant of Rs459.5 million to cope with desert locust threat in Pakistan.

According to details, the approval was given in a meeting of the ECC held at the Cabinet Block with Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair.

The ECC has directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to brief the committee in its next meeting on the measures taken so far, including the areas treated so far with spray and pesticides, to control the threat of desert locust in different parts of the country.

The ECC was informed that nine districts of the country are affected by the Locust and the Department of Plant Protection has been given the responsibility of dealing with the threat. So far 170,000 hectares have been cleared and the Ministry has been provided updates on a daily basis.

The ECC also directed that in the next meeting of the ECC a detailed briefing on the control of the threat be presented in the ECC. The ECC also approved the “Enactment of Pakistan Single Window Bill, 2019” to be sent to the Cabinet. The enactment of the Bill will highly facilitate the businesses in Pakistan.

The meeting also approved the placement of the Annual Report of the National Economic Council (NEC) (as required by Article 156 of the Constitution), before the Cabinet after the Chair was briefed that the points raised regarding the report for its placement before the Cabinet, had been duly addressed.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Energy got the approval of a proposal for the extension and Rehabilitation of gas network in oil and gas producing districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Phase 1).

Accordingly, SNGPL was allowed to execute gas development schemes recommended by DWP and endorsed by the Board of Directors of SNGPL along with the appropriate share of the funding shared between SNGPL and Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On the proposal sent by the Ministry of Interior, the ECC approved the allocation of Rs300 million through Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for raising of 1 Special Wing of Pakistan Rangers for (Protection of) Kartarpur Corridor on the recommendation of GHQ.

The ECC directed that a three-member committee consisting of Adviser to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Secretary Finance and a representative of Ministry of Interior shall look into the details of the proposal and further rationalize the costs.