ECC mulls over amendments in laws for tax exemptions at Gwadar Port

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at PM’s Office considered a proposal for introducing “necessary” amendments in the laws for ensuring tax exemptions at the Gwadar Port and Gwadar Free Zone.

The ECC constituted a committee on Thursday to remove any anomalies in the proposed amendments.

The meeting 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.

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

To address the issue of disparity in the sale

price and the revenues of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGCL), the ECC constituted a committee comprising of members from Petroleum Division, Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Finance and Planning, 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).