ECC approves over Rs 422 bln supplementary grants.

ISLAMABAD -- The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), in addition to other decisions on Monday, approved Supplementary and Technical Supplementary Grants (TSG) of Rs 422.3 billion in favour of various divisions.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired the ECC meeting.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud; Member of the National Assembly (MNA) and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi ; Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha; Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik; Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance Tariq Bajwa; SAPM on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha; federal secretaries and other senior officers.

The ECC accorded approval to the summary of Ministry of Communications for issuance of Government of Pakistan's (GoP) guarantee amounting to Rs 9,500 million for the construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway on build-operate-transfer basis.

The committee also approved Rs 12 billion for the National Disaster Management Authority for procurement of relief items to restock/replenish its reserves in order to be better prepared to respond to any impending disaster.

The ECC on the summary of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination approved fixation of maximum retail prices ( MRPs) of 49 new drugs on the basis of being lower as compared to their prices in the neighbouring countries.

These drugs are being introduced in Pakistan for the first time mostly at prices considerably lower than the region.

The committee approved Supplementary and Technical Supplementary Grant of Rs 839.129 million for the project titled 'New Gwadar International Airport (NIGA) of Ministry of Aviation.

It also approved TSGs of Rs 120.450 million and Rs 140.584 million for the Establishment Division for the CFY 2022-23 to meet the shortfall of ERE and Non-ERE components, and for the payment to government departments for services rendered from various sources respectively; and Rs 116.499 million for the Ministry of Human Rights for meeting the shortfall in essential expenditures in different organizations working under it.

The committee...