ISLAMABAD – Federal cabinet has decided to give three percent share toerstwhile FATA under National Finance Commission Award by reducing theshare of provinces.
Briefing newsmen after cabinet meeting, which was held in Islamabad onThursday under Prime Minister Imran Khan, Information Minister ChaudhryFawad Hussain, who was also accompanied by Petroleum Minister Ghulam SarwarKhan, said FATA Secretariat will be abolished and all administrativematters of the area will be overseen by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief MinisterSecretariat.
Information Minister said the Prime Minister has directed to speed up theprocess of NFC Award.
He said the cabinet has also decided to devise a new policy on armlicenses. He said after the passage of 18th constitutional amendment,issuance of arm licenses is responsibility of provinces; therefore, federalgovernment will withdraw its appeal on this count from the Supreme Court.
The Minister said the cabinet decided to establish a high level committeeon transformation of Karachi. He said Karachi Infrastructure DevelopmentCompany Limited will be revamped to make it more effective in executingprojects.
Similarly, the Minister said, development of Balochistan is also toppriority of the PTI government.
Chaudhary Fawad Hussain said the cabinet decided to reduce the number offoreign visits of federal ministers by 33.3 percent. He said apart fromForeign Minister, no minister will have more than three visits abroad ayear.
The Minister said Prime Minister took notice of the problems being faced byfarmers of sugarcane. The cabinet decided to start the crushing season from15th of next month in order to save farmers from losses. He said provincialgovernments have been issued directions in this regard and Chief Ministersof Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will meet with Prime Minister soon tobrief him on administrative steps on this issue.
Information Minister said cabinet decided to merge EarthquakeReconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority into National DisasterManagement Authority as ERRA was created for a specific purpose. He saidthe employees of ERRA working in provincial offices will be accommodated inprovincial offices of NDMA while the employees working in federal officewill join the NDMA office in Islamabad.
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Speaking on the occasion, Petroleum Minister Ghaulam Sarwar Khan said thecabinet decided to renegotiate agreements of the two Liquefied Natural Gasterminals installed by the PML-N government with the parties concerned dueto high return on equity.
He said the return on equity in the agreement signed with Engro Company was44 percent, which is double to the market rate, implying some under handdeal. He said the return rate in the other terminal is 22 percent.
Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the LNG terminal agreements and LNG import dealwith Qatar have brought the economy under stress.
Responding to a question about IMF programme, the Information Minister saidthe government requires twelve billion dollars to bring the economy out ofthe crisis. He said talks are underway with friendly countries and IMF forthe purpose.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the government is enforcing a transparentsystem, which will attract huge investment.
To a question about the recent by-elections, the Petroleum Minister saidthe elections were held in the most transparent manner. He said theprevious governments had always influenced the by-elections.
