Sindh Cabinet has approved Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) to recommend a resource distribution formula to the government here in a meeting held at CM house on Wednesday. Sindh Chief Minister Sayed Murad Ali Shah presided over cabinet meeting, discussed and decided various important agenda items including the constitution of the Provincial Finance Commission, the establishment of Larkano General University, import of 500,000 MT wheat, and maintaining of fares of Intra-district Peoples Bus Service for next six months.
The meeting was attended by all provincial ministers, advisors, Special Assistants, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Principal Secretary to CM Fayaz Jatoi, and others. The cabinet had 69 agenda items of them 58 items were discussed and decided and the remaining would be taken up in the next cabinet meeting likely to be held on Saturday. The Provincial Finance Commission will recommend a resource distribution formula to the government.
The PFC would also give recommendations for the distribution of resources between the government and the councils out of the proceeds of the provincial consolidated fund into a provincial retained amount and a provincial allocable amount called the Provincial Finance Commission Award.
The chairman of the PFC shall be Sindh Chief Minister/Minister Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah, Co-chairman Local Government Minister Nasir Shah, two members of the provincial assembly, Mayor KMC, Mayor Sukkur, Mayor District Council Tando Mohammad Khan Syed Qasim Naveed, Chairman Municipal Committee Umerkot Qasim Siraj Soomro, Chairman Korangi Town Naeem Shaikh.
The chief minister directed the chief secretary to get the PFC body notified today and before the end of his tenure, he would announce the PFC award. Minister for Transport Sharjeel Memon told the cabinet that the People Bus Service Project as conceived has suffered a prompt change in costs due to rise in fuel prices. Apropos to this, he said, the Company has approached the Sindh Mass Transit Authority showing concerns that they are sustaining huge financial operational losses as compared to the agreed rates/costs in 2021 and that the fares have not been revised as yet.
The transport minister said that it would be prudent to extend the financial grant for a further period in consideration of multiple factors which includes Low Fare Slab, Dollar escalations, rise in operating costs, Damages to Buses due to deterioration of roads, overlapping by other private transport etc. Sharjeel Memon said that the request of the Company was referred to Independent Expert 9s) – third party- for determination, evaluation, and validation of the request.
He added that the Independent Experts have evaluated and forwarded the financial analysis of the Project and have endorsed the request of the Company to extend the ongoing subsidy program at Rs. 40 per passenger for further six months to improve the efficiency of the Project and facilitation of the public at large. The cabinet decided to approve a subsidy of Rs 657.8 million and directed the Transport department to ensure the maintenance of the fare for next six months.
The food department told the cabinet that it had procured 900,000 MT of wheat against a target of 1.4 MT, therefore there was a shortfall of 500,000 MT. The chief minister directed the Food department to invite the private sector to import 500,000 MT of wheat, otherwise, the provincial government through the federal government would import it and the cabinet approved the proposal. The finance department told the cabinet that the Directorate of Accounts (Inspection), Sindh was established in 1975.
The functions of the directorate gradually changed especially after the introduction of the SAP system and the conversion of the Treasury Offices in District Accounts Offices. The Directorate has 89 employees of grade BS-1 to BS-18 and their annual expenditure of the establishment is around Rs 68 million.
The cabinet after discussion decided to wind up the directorate by sending its employees to a surplus pool set up in the finance department for further posting.
The provincial cabinet has directed the Excise & Taxation Department to replace registration books of Motor Vehicles Registration Books with Security Featured MVR cards. Minister Excise & Taxation Mukesh Chawla told the cabinet that his department has started issuing cards and in phases, all the registration books would be replaced with cards that were easy to carry and had all the security features.
The cabinet allowed the Excise & Taxation to invite tenders for manufacturing the security cards. The Khairpur Special Economic Zone Management Committee requested the cabinet to allow them to adopt Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations for Industrial and Commercial units. The cabinet approved the request and directed them to engage a panel of engineers/architectural firms for the development of Khairpur SEZ. The cabinet approved the allotment of 2767.27 acres of land in Deh Chuhar, District Malir in favour of the Investment Department of Sindh govt at 50 percent of the market price for education purposes. The cabinet also approved Rs 6 billion for the Investment dept to pay the price of the land to the land & utilization department.
It may be noted that the land is meant for setting up the Education City Board which is an autonomous body with an independent Board of Directors. The land is required to be transferred to the investment department and would be further sub-let to the Education City Board. Collaboration Between SEF & Tech The cabinet was told that a large number of children of varying ages were still Out-of-School (OOSC). Estimates show that even if funding and capacity existed, it would require huge government resources over a period of 20 years to make meaningful progress to cater to OOSC. Technology-based accelerated learning methods are therefore required for transition and mainstreaming. Teach the World Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, is one of the pioneers in deploying K-5 digital learning solutions in underprivileged communities in different countries.
