ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday presented the details of money received through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the National Assembly as officials of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives told the House that a total of $24,703 worth of There are 43 projects. Billions of rupees have been completed under CPEC with China’s cooperation. Moreover, eight projects worth $759.56 million are currently under implementation.
Details of funding of projects under CPEC were presented in response to a question by Tahira Aurangzeb during the question interval.
While providing the details of eight ongoing projects, the National Assembly was told that two projects are in Balochistan, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one each in Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad and one each in the whole of Pakistan.
Two projects in Balochistan include Gwadar Free Zone Phase II infrastructure with FDI mode and Bustan Special Economic Zone with Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Two of the KP projects include Rs 146 million FDI/PPP mode in Rishki Special Economic Zone and rehabilitation and renovation of 50 schools in newly merged districts with a grant of Rs 15.7 million. The Sindh Dhabiji Special Economic Zone project is underway with a private investment of $27 million/PPP mode.
Punjab’s project is Allama Iqbal Industrial City (AIIC) which will cost $160 million with the help of ADP. The Islamabad project is the Bacerial Grass (Juncao) Training and Promotion Project with a grant of $3.66 million. A $116 million grant is underway to rehabilitate and rebuild flood-affected infrastructure across Pakistan.
The Ministry of Finance told the National Assembly that the current account deficit (CAD) has declined significantly by 79% to $217 million in the first two months of the current financial year compared to the same period last year. In August, a surplus was recorded and this sharp decline in CAD is mainly due to strong inflow of remittances and stable export earnings, which have helped to manage the rising import bill.
In response to another question, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, Development and Special Measures Wajiha Qamar told the National Assembly that Gwadar Port is operational, and equipped to handle general cargo, containers and other operations. He said the port accommodates vessels up to 50,000 DWT (dead weight) and has the required infrastructure to help handle bulk cargo and containers efficiently. Qamar said that several shipments have been successfully processed under the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement.
The Finance Ministry told the National Assembly that the government has collected Rs 338 billion as advance tax from mobile phone bills under Section 236 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 during the last five years.
In response to Syed Rafiullah’s question, the ministry told the House that during the year 2020, 50 billion rupees were collected from mobile companies in the form of advance tax, 55 billion rupees in 2021, 61 billion rupees in 2022, and 80 billion rupees in 2023. And 92 billion rupees were received in the year. 2024. Data on number of subscribers and average usage of mobile services by citizen is not available with FBR and falls under the purview of Ministry of Information Technology. The ministry clarified that the advance income tax collected from mobile users is an adjustable tax as per the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and any taxpayer can claim the refund in his income tax return. Further, it was pointed out that the Income Tax Ordinance 2002 does not provide any discriminatory treatment of advance tax to beneficiaries of any charitable scheme.