Islamabad August 6 (Online Int’l): The 42nd meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Thursday gave a tasked to Ministry of Petroleum to explore the possibility of providing the provinces with a suitable mechanism to give their input to the regulatory body.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad.
The CCI meeting considered proposed amendment in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 as suggested by the Sindh government and a request of the Punjab government for handing over control of lower portion of Chashma Right Bank Canal from Ministry of Water Resources to Punjab.
Agreeing to the proposal, the CCI constituted a committee comprising of representatives of IRSA, Punjab and KP governments to work out modalities and finalize bilateral agreement between the two provinces in this regard.
The CCI deliberated upon the future role and functioning of National Commission for Human Development and Basic Education Community Schools. It was decided, in principle, to transfer the existing NCHD and BECS schools, teachers and students from Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training to Education Departments of respective Provinces/Regions.
The process will be completed before closing of the current financial year. The CCI directed that Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training, in consultation with provinces, shall formulate a transition and integration plan which will be presented during the next CCI meeting.
The strategy to combat Covid-19 was also presented before the CCI meeting. The review meeting appreciated the strategy adopted by the government to combat the pandemic.
Discussing the issue of sharing of Windfall Levy, it was decided that 50 percent share of the receipts, collected under the head Windfall Levy on Crude oil, condensate and natural gas under Petroleum Policy, 2012, will be shared with the concerned province.
The meeting also approved placement of annual reports for the years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 before the Senate and National Assembly.Meanwhile, implementation status of decisions of the 41st meeting of CCI was also reviewed during the meeting.
Discussing recommendations of Attorney General for Pakistan on Water Accord 1991, the CCI was informed that a committee comprising of technical experts of federal and provincial governments has been notified to look into the issue of fair distribution of water among provinces. The CCI directed the committee to complete its work in one month.
The meeting was also apprised about the progress on installation of Telemetry System. The CCI unanimously approved Alternative & Renewable Energy Policy 2019.
SAPM for Petroleum gave a detailed presentation to CCI on annual demand and supply situation of gas with special reference to future requirements and dwindling domestic gas reserves.
While presenting gas production, consumption and transmission data from various provinces, it was informed that the country would face major gas shortage by winter 2021-2022. It was recommended that a national consensus needs to be built for major push for new exploration and production, conservation of domestic gas and rationalization of price mechanisms to avoid impending crises.
The meeting was informed that Federal Government is organizing a summit of industry experts to discuss various options to meet this impending challenge and requested the provinces for their active participation.
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