1 (36th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ————— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Thursday, the 24th November, 2011 (Originally Starred Question Nos. 25, 34, 40 and 42 were set down for answer on 16-11-2011) 25. *Ms. Nighat Parveen Mir: Will the Minister for Commerce be pleased to state: (a) the names of countries declared favourite for the trade with Pakistan at present; and (b) the benefits being accrued therefrom? Minister for Commerce (Makhdoom Amin Fahim): (a) Pakistan is a member of world Trade Organization (WTO) and under the Most Favoured Nation principle has given MFN status to all its trading partners except India and Israel. The imports from India are limited to the items included in Annex G of the Import Policy Order. The imports from Israel or Israeli origin goods are prohibited under the Import Policy Order. (b) The benefits from increased trading activities are as follows: (a) Increased trade Creates conducive environment for investment by facilitating the import of capital goods as well as raw material; (b) The resultant increase in economic activity creates employment, especially in the export sectors; (c) Ensures supply of essential commodities to consumers at reasonable prices; and 2 (d) Increase in exports fetches precious Foreign Exchange while increase in imports also increases revenue collection. 34. *Rana Mahmood-ul-Hassan: Will the Minister for Railways be pleased to state:. (a) whether it is a fact that massive malpractice and financial embezzlement have been reported, in the recent audit of Pakistan Railways, if so; the detail thereof alongwith action taken thereupon; (b) whether any study has been conducted to estimate the volume and value of revenue leakage in Pakistan Railways; if so, the detail thereof; and (c) the steps being taken to control revenue leakage and bring good governance in Pakistan Railways? Minister for Railways (Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour): (a) Financial irregularities have been reported in various paras in the recent Audit Report upon the Accounts of Railways of 2009-2010. The observations have already been discussed in the DAC meeting held during the month of January 2011, Recoveries/ action required are under process. (b) No study has been carried out however, the volume and value of revenue leakage in Pakistan Railways is not as is the common perception. The probabilities of leakage of revenue are restricted only to the un reserved / vacant seats. Without proper reservation 5% revenue is generated from the Ticket-less checking by the commercial staff. (c) The following steps have been taken to control revenue leakage by the commercial staff: 1. Special campaigns are frequently launched at Divisional as well as Headquarters level to curb the menace of ticket less travelling. 2. A number of Police cases have been registered against the commercial staff over the system, whom were involved in frauds,embezzlements of misappropriation of Railway Revenue. 3 3. Departmental action has been taken against staff. 4. The computerized tickets are printed and security features have been arranged in the tickets. 5. The instructions have been issued to the operating divisions to conduct frequent surprise inspections. 6. Forty one (41) reservation offices over the system have been computerized to discourage black marketing, over charging and forgery by commercial staff. 7. Public Private Partnership for out sourcing commercial management of Passenger Trains is being carried out to improve Railway Revenue and control leakage. 8. The refund policy as well as procedure have been modified to check & control leakage of revenue. 40. *Begum Nuzhat Sadiq: . Will the Minister for Railways be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that Pakistan has purchased locomotives from USA during recent past; (b) if so, the time by which those locomotives will be handed over to Pakistan; and (c) the time by which those passenger trains which were closed down during the recent past will be restored? Minister for Railways (Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour): (a) and (b) Pakistan Railways has not purchased any locomotive from USA during the recent past. (c) Few passenger trains have been temporarily closed down and with the improved availability of locomotives, will be restored. While closing down it has been kept in view that at least one/two trains must remain. available to the public of that section to avoid inconvenience to the passengers. 4 42. *Ms. Khalida Mansoor: Will the Minister for Railways be pleased to state: (a) the total land of Pakistan Railways in Peshawar at present alongwith the total value thereof; (b) the total land of Pakistan Railways occupied by illegal occupants at present; and (c) the steps being taken against those illegal occupants to get vacated the said land? Minister for Railways (Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour): (a) Total area of land at Peshawar (Hayatabad to Nasarpur) is 473.68 acres, which includes all operational and Railway residential areas and its present approximate realizable value is Rs.5921 million. (b) The total area of Railway land under unauthorized occupation is 3779.98 acres. (c) The following steps are being taken to get the Railway land vacated from illegal occupants:— (i) Strict monitoring and surveillance to ensure that there are no new encroachments. (ii) Regular anti-encroachment operations are launched all over the system to retrieve the encroached Railway land with the help of Railway Police, Civil Administration and District Police. (iii) The matters of illegal occupation of Railway land by Govt. Departments/Institutions have been taken up with concerned departments for mutual settlement. (iv) A ‘Joint Procedure Order’ has been issued duly vetted by Inspector General/Pakistan Railways Police and approved by the General Manager/Operations under which Divisional Railway 5 Administration and Railway Police have jointly been made responsible for detection and removal of the encroachments. (v) Proposal is under consideration to create exclusive Anti- encroachment Squads on every Railway Division with necessary manpower, tools and machinery. 116. *Ms. Shireen Arshad Khan: Will the Minister for Railways be pleased to state whether it is a fact that a number of passenger and goods trains reached late at their destinations since 1st March, 2011 till date in the country; if so, the reasons thereof? Minister for Railways (Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour): Railway operations are disturbed due to shortage of locomotives. A number of passenger and goods trains reached late at their destinations since 1st March, 2011 till date owing to locomotive crisis. 117. *Ms. Qudsia Arshad: Will the Minister for Commerce be pleased to state: (a) the year-wise total quantity of sugar exported during the last three years till date alongwith the names of those countries; and (b) whether the sugar was imported during the said period; if so, the names of those countries alongwith the quantity of sugar imported therefrom separately? Reply not received. 118. *Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb: Will the Minister for Foreign Affairs be pleased to state the nature of diplomatic relations of Pakistan with Iran, Egypt, Libya and Yemen at present? 6 Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar): Pakistan relations with Libya Pakistan’s relations with Libya date back to 1950s when Pakistan provided some modest economic and technical assistance to Libya in the early stages of its independence. Pakistan attaches importance to its relations with Libya. The two countries enjoy close fraternal and cooperative ties, which are deeply rooted in the ethos of the two people. The people of Pakistan have always stood with their Libyan brother and fully respect their national aspirations. Exchange of high level visits from both sides has further contributed to comprehensively upgrading our bilateral relationship. In order to further boost the economic and commercial relations, the two countries have also signed seven Agreements/MoUs. The two sides have agreed to initiate a joint study for PTA leading to FTA. A Joint Investment Company with subsidiaries in oil, gas, agriculture, banking, Finance and infrastructure development projects has also been established. Despite good political relations with Libya, our trade relations are much below the desired potential. Efforts are however, underway to enhance trade and economic relations to the mutual benefits of our two nations. Pakistan’s relations with Egypt and Yemen Pakistan enjoys close friendly relations with all the North African and Middle Eastern countries including Egypt and Yemen. Our relations with these countries are based on common faith, culture and similarity of views on a host of issues of regional and international importance. We believe that stability of these countries is important for the stability of our region and the world. We have structured mechanisms such as the Joint Ministerial Commission providing a useful platform for continued interaction and exchange of visits. We also hold bilateral consultations with these countries from time to time and review our existing beneficial cooperation with them in various fields. There is increased interaction between Pakistan and Egypt in the recent years. The two countries attach importance to their relations and are working to strengthen their cooperation in various fields. We have signed over 30 agreements and MoUs with Egypt covering cooperation in commerce, trade, culture and education etc. With Yemen around 24 agreements and MoUs on cooperation in various sectors have been signed. 7 Our bilateral trade with Egypt is around US$ 249 million. Egypt has invested around $ 2.5 billion in telecom, construction and hoteling. Pakistani businessmen have invested over US$ 50 million in Egypt mainly in the textile business. The two countries have agreed during the JMC Session held in Cairo last year, to enhance cooperation in twenty one sectors including trade, food and beverages, investment, tourism, software technology parks, cement manufacturing, oil and gas exploration, power generation, agriculture, health and automotives.