ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Education, Professional Training, National Heritage and Culture Shafqat Mahmood presided over the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms (CCIR) at the Cabinet Division in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The meeting was also attended by the Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam, the Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr. Fehmida Mirza, and the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Establishment Muhammad Shahzad Arbab.
The Commerce Division gave a presentation to the committee on Export Development Fund (EDF) which was created through an act of parliament ( EDF act 1999) and according to the act, EDF would be administered by a board of administrators.
The Commerce Division requested the CCIR to issue a notification for EDF as an autonomous body.
The CCIR after taking views of the Cabinet Division on the subject matter directed the Commerce Division to submit a summary to CCIR and after its endorsement, EDF would be notified as an autonomous body.
The Petroleum Division requested the Committee to review the decision of 2019 by the CCIR on Saindak Metal Limited (SML) to include it in the list of entities proposed to be devolved to the provinces.
The Petroleum Division was of the view that the SML was a public sector corporate entity wholly owned by the government of Pakistan and this project was developed from initial exploration to commercial production phase with the federal government funding amounting to more than 29 billion while the government of Balochistan is not willing to recover its ownership.
The view of the planning commission was that the federal government could not own a company. The decision on it was deferred for further deliberation.
The Pakistan Railways briefed the committee about the Railway Estate Development and Management Company (REDAMCO) which is a public sector company of a Railways Division.
The Committee deliberated whether the matter of 168,000 acre Raliways’ land should be managed by the REDAMCO or should it be transferred to an authority being established by the federal government to manage all the State lands and properties.
The Apex Court’s judgment about the state’s land and its commercial use was also reviewed by the Committee.
The CCIR gave two weeks’ time for further consultation between the Ministry of Law and the Pakistan Railways on this matter before making any decision.
