ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over the 42nd meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in Islamabad on Thursday attended by all the four provincial Chief Ministers and Federal Ministers.
The meeting considered the proposed amendment in the OGRA Ordinance 2002, as suggested by the Sindh government.
The CCI tasked the 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 considered the request of the Punjab government for handing over control of the lower portion of Chashma Right Bank Canal from the Ministry of Water Resources to the Punjab government.
While agreeing to the proposal, the CCI constituted a committee comprising of representatives of IRSA, and the Punjab & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to work out modalities and finalize the bilateral agreement between the two provinces in this regard.
The CCI deliberated upon the future role and functioning of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Basic Education Community Schools (BECS).
It was decided, in principle, to transfer the existing NCHD and BECS, teachers, and students from the 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 the Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training, in consultation with provinces, shall formulate a transition & integration plan which will be presented during the next CCI meeting.
In addition, the strategy to Combat the COVID-19 pandemic was presented before the CCI.
The 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 & natural gas under Petroleum Policy 2012, will be shared with the concerned province.
The meeting approved placement of Annual Reports for the Years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 before the Senate and National Assembly.
During the meeting, the implementation status of decisions of the 41st meeting of CCI was also reviewed.
Discussing recommendations of the 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 the installation of the Telemetry System.
The CCI unanimously approved the Alternative & Renewable Energy Policy 2019.
The Prime Minister’s Special Assistant for Petroleum Nadeem Babar gave a detailed presentation to the 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 a major gas shortage by winter 2021-2022.
It was recommended that a national consensus needs to be built for a 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 the 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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