Punjab demands 'royalty' as major food producer

[Naveed Yaseen]

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN
ISLAMABAD (June 11 2009): In a surprise move, Punjab has demanded royalty as major food producer on the lines other provinces are being paid for utilisation of their natural resources, like oil, gas and water resources, official sources told Business Recorder.

"Punjab, being major food producer of the country, deserves royalty on the lines other provinces are being paid for utilisation of their resources," sources quoted top public office holders as demanding in the meeting of National Economic Council (NEC) on June 4, 2009. The meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Sources said that Punjab representatives also proposed major reforms in policy regarding agriculture sector so as to exploit the potential, especially in export of value-added agricultural products. It was also demanded that vertical program of federal government, especially in health, education and social protection sectors, be reviewed. It was suggested that infrastructure projects, which had incurred wastage be investigated.

It was flagged that transportation cost charged on wheat by Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) was far in excess of prevailing market rates. Sindh leadership, sources said, emphasised that the issue of National Finance Commission (NFC) should be settled as per commitment of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) before the announcement of the 2009-10 budget, in consultation with provinces.

It was also proposed that collection of general sales tax (GST) on services, being provincial subject, should be entrusted to the provinces; cuts in releases from divisible pool may not be made; and transfers may be expedited; projects announced in public by the President and the Prime Minister should be fully financed by the federal government; and vertical projects of federal government should be revisited. The NWFP government suggested that pro-poor programs for that province should be enlarged because the poverty rate, 44 percent, in that province was the highest in Pakistan, and withdrawal of subsidies proposed in the next budget would further aggravate the situation.

It was also requested that "comprehensive development strategy for 7 years", developed by the NWFP, be made a part of the 10th Five-Year People's Plan (2010-15).

It was also pointed out that storage charges for wheat, procured by provinces, were debitable to federal government. The viewpoints of AJK, Northern Areas and FATA were also presented before the National Economic Council (NEC) and inclusion of their priority programs in the PSDP was requested.

It was pointed out that provision of Rs 11 billion for Railways did not compare well with the allocation of Rs 40 billion to National Highway Authority (NHA). It was intimated that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture planned commercial certification of seeds, value-addition of vegetables and fruits, use of biotechnology in cotton and research centre in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

It was stated that untimely releases and cuts in environment related projects carried adverse impact because these projects were seasonal in nature. It was further pointed out that the projects included in next year's PSDP were in fact not the ones proposed by the concerned Divisions.

It was suggested that unrecovered loans of Agriculture Development Bank may be written off so that Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (ZTBL) may issue fresh loans to those people. It was also requested that, in the case of education programs, carryover of unutilised funds be allowed.

It was intimated that Ministry of Industries and Production was in the process of preparing projects for Agri Malls at Union Council level and Local Manufacturing of Turbines for Windmills. Moreover, new fertiliser plants were being targeted under Public Private Partnership (PPP). It was pointed out that two projects proposed by Livestock Division had not been accommodated although they qualified under the criteria prescribed by Planning Commission.

Prime Minister Gilani announced that the size of PSDP for 2009-10 in the case of Balochistan will be Rs 50 billion. In addition to that, Rs 9 billion would be allocated for three components for provincial PSDP support Rs 3 billion, MPAs, development projects Rs 3 billion and Quetta Development Program Rs 3 billion.

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