ISLAMABAD: Before upcoming talks with the International fund (IMF), the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cupboard on Thursday approved a reduced Kamyab Pakistan Programme (KPP).
Presided over by minister of finance Shaukat Tarin, the ECC meeting also approved payment of Rs131 billion to 11 independent power producers (IPPs).
It also okayed Rs5bn as internal security duty allowance for personnel of Pakistan Army deputed on western borders and payment of salaries to remaining employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) for a couple of months.
The finance ministry said the ECC gave approval to the KPP on the idea of an updated summary. It said the programme had been streamlined in consultation with stakeholders to disburse microcredit for uplifting marginalised segments of society. The KPP has Kamyab Karobar, Kamyab Kissan, Naya Pakistan low-cost Housing, Kamyab Hunarmand and Sehatmand Pakistan components.
Under the Kamyab Karobar, Kissan and Naya Pakistan low cost housing, micro-loans shall be disbursed amongst eligible persons registered with Ehsaas Data through National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) who have family income of up to Rs50,000 per month. The Kamyab Hunarmand and Sehatmand Pakistan programmes are going to be integrated with the prevailing programmes. The KPP is aimed to integrate with government’s ongoing skill development programme for imparting educational and vocational education .
As per revised framework of KPP, selection of Wholesale Lenders (Banks) are going to be through competitive bidding in line with Public Procurement regulatory agency (PPRA) rules. The Micro Finance Providers (MFPs) are going to be selected by the wholesale lenders. the govt will provide two guarantees including 10 per cent first loss guarantee to MFPs and 50pc guarantee to Wholesale Lenders (WLs) on pari-passu/risk-sharing basis.
During the primary phase, the KPP are going to be launched in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and a couple of poorest districts of Sindh and Punjab. The KPP are going to be extended to whole Pakistan eventually. On the implementation side, the Kamyab Pakistan data system (KPIS), a digital portal, is being established which is fully integrated with telecommunication companies, National Telecom Communication (NTC), Ehsaas/NSER and Nadra for verification of beneficiary’s eligibility.
The ECC approved the KPP for submission to the cupboard for formal approval before its launch. The minister of finance had said a couple of days ago that the KPP would be launched within this year with trimmed down size to ultimately to support 4-6m households because the IMF had agreed to the revised KPP size and structure. consistent with Mr Tarin, size of the programme for first year had been reduced to about Rs156bn from originally envisaged Rs315bn while the chunk of subsidy had also been reduced from Rs21bn to about Rs10-12bn.
The programme would be operated through the KPP Portal called KPIS. there’ll be a toll-free number which can be integrating the KPIS through Telecos via NTC. The portal are going to be integrated with Ehsaas Data and Nadra for verification of beneficiaries eligibility to facilitate the Executing Agencies (Microfinance Providers) for finalising the financing modalities in an efficient and seamless manner.
The ECC also approved an invitation of the facility division for payment of 40pc (first installment) of the entire amount payable to IPPs of 2002 policy. the cupboard Committee on Energy had cleared on September 13 the payment of about Rs131bn to 11 IPPs (barring Nishat Chunian).
The payment of dues to 12 IPPs found out under the 2002 policy had become controversial after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took cognizance of the difficulty and every one government forums and ministries abstained from taking responsibility to clear outstanding amounts prescribed after a lengthy process of negotiations and settlements. it had been placed on record that excess gain of over Rs8.36bn allegedly stood proven against Nishat Chunian found out under the 2002 policy. Other 11 projects of an equivalent policy also came under similar suspicion.
As a result, the payments to most the IPPs (pre-1994, 1994 and 2006 policies) as 40pc first installment were made except 12 IPPs of the 2002 policy. of these projects agreed to possess local arbitration proceedings but controversies didn’t allow formal signing of arbitration agreements.
