1 (267th Session)
SENATE SECRETARIAT
—————
“QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES”
to be asked at a sitting of the Senate to be held on
Friday, the 15th September, 2017
*Question No. 86. Senator Ahmed Hassan: (Notice received on 14-06-2017 at 09:50 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Communications be pleased to state:
(a) whether it is a fact that the toll plaza established at Sangjani, GT road has been shifted to the entrance of Sector D-17, Islamabad, if so, the reasons thereof; and
(b) whether there is any proposal under consideration of the Government to shift back the said plaza to its original location, if not, the reasons thereof?
Hafiz Abdul Kareem: Sangjani Toll Plaza was initially established at KM-1563-64 near Sangjani Water treatment plant. Due to presence of an alternate local route through Pind Nosheri the heavy traffic started bypassing the said toll plaza resulting in loss to the exchequer. Considering this development, NHA decided to shift the toll plaza from its initial location near Sangjani Water Treatment Plant to the current location at KM-1560+000 (N-5) in FY 2004- 2005 to save revenue loss. However, it is pertinent to mention here that when the Sangjani Toll Plaza was shifted. there was no development work in sector D-17 and practically respective sector was not established.
(b) No proposal is under consideration to shift the said toll plaza as the collection of revenue at current location is satisfactory. 2 *Question No. 88. Senator Mohammad Azam Khan Swati: (Notice received on 14-06-2017 at 09:55 a.m.)
Will the Minster for Communications be pleased to state whether it is a fact that toll plazas on the GT road and other National Highways in the country have not been computerized so far, if so, the reasons thereof and the steps being taken by the Government in this regard?
Hafiz Abdul Kareem: Presently out of 72x toll plazas, 11x toll plazas have been computerized located on National Highway (N-5). Moreover, NHA has devised a plan for computerization of remaining 61x manual toll plazas in phased manner.
In first phase, the entire manual toll plazas on N-5 are expected to be computerized during F.Y 201 7- 18.
Based on the results of N-5 and financial viability all other manual toll plazas are likely to be converted in computerized ones within next 2 years from now.
*Question No. 89. Senator Nuzhat Sadiq: (Notice received on 14-06-2017 at 11:30 a.m.)
Will the Minister for National Food Security and Research be pleased to state the steps being taken by the Government to improve management of the agricultural resources keeping in view the increasing population pressure in Pakistan?
Mr. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan: The present government is striving hard to revive the agriculture on modern footing. Following steps have been taken for better management of agricultural resources to ensure food security of the country:
Kissan Package, 2015
Fertilizer Subsidy Schemes for the FY 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Promulgation of Seed Act, 2015 and Plant Breeders Rights Act, 2016. 3 Revival of Federal Committee on Agriculture (-CA). Use of innovative technologies More productive varieties Development of hybrids and GM technology Disease resistant varieties Drought resistant varieties Climate Change Adoptability Frost resistant varieties
Through efficient use of water resources and efficient use of above resources Pakistan has produced surplus wheat, rice, maize, potato and fruits and vegetables to cater to the needs of increasing population.
*Question No. 90. Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja: (Notice received on 15-06-2017 at 09:05 a.m.)
Will the Minister for National Food Security and Research be pleased to state the number of agreements made by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research and its statutory bodies with Foreign countries during the last five years indicating also the name of country and nature of agreements in each case?
Mr. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan: Following is the detail of Agreements signed by the Ministry of National Food Security & Research during last five years with the detail about the nature of Agreements:—
(a) Number of Agreements made during last five years:
i. Two Agreement were made and one Agreement was ratified by the Ministry of NFS&R while Two Agreements were made by Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), an autonomous research organization of the Ministry of NFS&R.
ii. Fourteen Memoranda/Protocol were also signed by the Ministry of NFS&R and its statutory organizations during last five years. 4 (b) Name of countries and Nature of Agreements:
(i) Agreements made by the Ministry of NFS&R: 5 6 7 8 *Question No. 91. Senator Mohammad Azam Khan Swati: (Notice received on 15-06-2017 at 09:18 a.m.) Will the Minister for Foreign Affairs be pleased to state: (a) the names of countries and peace keeping missions where personnel of Pakistan Armed Forces have presently been deployed indicating also the purpose and number of personnel deployed in each case; and (b) whether the host country has any contractual obligation for provision of financial help to the heirs in case of any casualty to any officer / official out of the said personnel, if so, the details thereof? Khawaja Muhammad Asif: (a & b) As of 30 June 2017, details of Pakistani peacekeepers deployed in different UN Peacekeeping missions are as follows: 9 10
*Question No. 93. Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood: (Notice received on 20-06-2017 at 09:15 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Communications be pleased to state:
(a) whether it is a fact that the project of Green Line Bus Transit System for Karachi has been approved by ECNEC, if so, the details thereof;
(b) the detail of work done so far on the said project and the time by which the same will be completed; and
(c) the details of amount released and utilized on that project so far?
Hafiz Abdul Kareem: (a) ECNEC approved by original project “Green Line BRTS from Surjani to Guru Mandir” on 4th December, 2014.
Revised PC-1 (Green Line BRTS Extension from Guru Mandir to Central Business District) has also been approved by ECNEC on 12th April, 2017.
(b) Physical Progress of project 66%
Proieet Completion Timelines
Board Office Interchange Inaugurated by the Governor Sindh on 18th June, 2017.
Phase-I (A&B) of the Project i.e. Extension of Green Line from Guru Mandir to Central Business District (CBD) shall be completed by June, 2018.
Phase-II of the Project i.e. extension of Green Line from Guru Mandir to Central Business District (CBD) shall be completed by June, 2018. 11 (c) Total releases as on 8th September, 2017: 9961.484 million
Total utilization as on 8th September, 2017: 7,945,743 million
*Question No. 97. Senator Ahmed Hassan: (Notice received on 21-06-2017 at 10:00 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Communications be pleased to state whether it ia s a fact that the Government has approved a project for construction of Expressway from Besham to Khwazakhela, if so, the details thereof indicating also the estimated cost, amount allocated during the fiscal year 2016-17, expected dates of starting and completing work on the same?
Hafiz Abdul Kareem: Yes, it is fact that Prime Minister of Pakistan during the visit of Swat in May, 2015 had announced the construction of Besham to Khazkhela Expressway.
In the PSDP 2016-17 an amount of Rs. 50 Millions were earmarked for conducting the feasibility study of the project.
NHA has awarded the contract for conducting the feasibility study on 16th March, 2017 with the completion period of four (04) months.
The project cost will be determined after the completion of the feasibility study.
The Construction period of the project will be 24 months.
The procurement of works process will be initiated after the approval of PC-I by the Government. Construction will starts after procurement of Contractors thereafter upon.
*Question No. 99. Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja: (Notice received on 21-06-2017 at 10:30 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Foreign Affairs be pleased to state the number of agreements made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its statutory 12 bodies with Foreign countries during the last five years indicating also the name of country and nature of agreement in each case?
Khawaja Muhammad Asif:
West Asia
Following agreements/ MoUs were signed during last five years between Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its statutory bodies with Central Asian Republics. 13 China Division
Following two MoUs/Agreements have been signed during the last five years, between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and its statuary bodies and Government of China:
1. Agreement on Boundary Management System;
2. Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Institute of Strategic Studies on Pakistan (ISS) and Chinese Centre for Contemporary World Studies
Asia Pacific
The following MoUs/Agreements were signed between Pakistan and Japan during the last five years:
2. During the last five years, no MoUs/Agreements were signed by Pakistan with Republic of Korea (RoK) and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The Government of Pakistan has signed the following agreements with foreign countries in the last five years; 14 15
Turkey:
A total of 37 agreements and other documents have so far been signed between Pakistan and Turkey in the last six years (2012-2017 till now). However agreements particularly pertaining to Ministry of Foreign Affairs encompass;
MoU for Cooperation between Diplomacy Academy of Turkey (DAT) and Foreign Service Academy of Pakistan (FSA). The agreement includes programmes for training of Turkish Diplomats at FSA and exchange of Diplomats along with training of young Pakistani diplomats at Turkish Diplomatic Academy in the coming future.
Iran:
Pakistan and Iran have signed a total of 28 agreements/MoUs in the last five years (20122016). This includes an agreement signed in 2009 with the name 16 “Memorandum of Understanding on Cultural and Academic Cooperation between the Foreign Service Academy (FSA) and the School of International Relations, Tehran in 2009. It had expired after running its two years course. However, it was again renewed in March 2016 during the visit of President of Iran to Pakistan with an amended clause that after expiry of one year of the said MoU, it will be automatically renewed unless notified otherwise by either party.
America
Following Agreements/MoUs/POIs had been signed between Pakistan and countries being dealt by this Directorate during the last five years: 17
*Question No. 101. Senator Nuzhat Sadiq: (Notice received on 29-06-2017 at 10:50 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Communications be pleased to state whether there is any proposal under consideration of the Government to install signboards with precautionary instruction and guidelines on national highways at appropriate distance to protect the commuters and general public accidents and incidents like the oil tanker incident recently happened in Ahmedpur Sharqia?
Hafiz Abdul Kareem: Yes NHA is not only addressing road signage but is developing program to attend to road safety as best as possible. NHA is taking all possible measures based on standard international guidelines to protect the road commuters and general public from accidents. NHA has been installing following three 03 types of road signboards on its highways at appropriate distance:
i. Warning Sign is a type of traffic sign that indicates a hazard ahead on road that may not be readily apparent to driver.
ii. Regulatory Signs are traffic signs intended to instruct road users on what they must or should do (or not to do) under a given set of circumstances.
iii. Information Signs are used to inform drivers of route designations, destinations, directions, distances, services, points of interest, and other geographical, recreational or cultural information.
Ahmedpur Sharqia incident happened not because of poor road condition or road geometry or because of non availability of road signage, however, NHA is ready to make an effort to educate oil tanker & truck drivers through informative sign to reduce road accidents. 18 *Question No. 102. Senator Nuzhat Sadiq: (Notice received on 03-07-2017 at 10:05 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination be pleased to state the steps being taken by the Pakistan Hockey Federation to hunt talent of hockey, and groom it at par with international standard in order to bring back the glory of Pakistan Hockey?
Mr. Raiz Hussain Pirzada: The Standard of Pakistan Hockey at International level keep on declining and eventually Pakistan lost achieved titles. The declining performance has also undermined the interest of players toward Hockey. Subsequently the pool of talented players depleted and Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) could not produce the talented players at International level.
The PHF observed this situation and is striving to bring back Hockey on a path of glory and success. For this purpose the Senior, Junior and Youth training camps are periodically organized by PHF to systematically develop and improve the performance of Hockey player at national and International level. Few of the efforts made by the PHF for talent hunting and grooming are mentioned below:—
i. The PHF spotted and selected 304 under-18 young hockey players from all over the country. They were called in a national training camp at PSC Islamabad and after 4 weeks training, the probable’s were short listed.
ii. The selected under-18 hockey players under took a training cum competition tour of Australia and participated in the Australian national junior hockey championship held at HOBORT in which 20 Australian teams participated. Pakistan team won the title which is a great achievement because of the fact that Australia is among top three team of hockey in the world. This performance will subsequently produce good results in future.
iii. The talent spotting and hunting is regular feature of PHF. The club of hockey plays a vital role in grooming the youngster at grass root level. PHF has 468 hockey club registered with it from all over the country. Each club consists of 14 registered players. Inter Club hockey championships are regular feature of PHF organized at Inter-district, inter Division, Inter Provincial and National level. During the various clubs championship at all level, the selection committee of PHF spot 19 and picks the talented players for further grooming to improve their skill, technique and performance.
With above arrangement, the PHF is confident that its talent hunting and grooming programme will produce good fruitful result.
*Question No. 105. Senator Syed Shibli Faraz: (Notice received on 12-07-2017 at 09:30 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination be pleased to state:
(a) the details of cases pending against Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in various courts of the country indicating also the names of attorneys and law firms hired for pleading each of the same; and
(b) the details of attorneys on the panel of PCB apart from those hired for the said cases?
Mr. Raiz Hussain Pirzada: (a) The relevant details are attached herewith as Annexure (A)
(b) PCB’s panel of lawyers currently comprises the following lawyers / law firms:
1. Ms. Asma Jahangir 2. M/s Rizvi & Rizvi 3. M/s LMA Ebrahim Hosain 4. M/s Cornelius, Lane & Mufti 5. M/s Law Inn 6. M/s Sayeed, Hfeez & Co 7. M/s Jus & Rem 8. M/s Edward Marshall 20
9. M/s Ernest & Kamran 10. M/s Axis Law Chambers 11. M/s Haseeb & Omer Associates 12. Mr. Ahmad Warraich 13. Mr. Junaid Anwar Khan 14. Mr. Khalid lbn-e-Aziz 15. Rana Muhammad Asif Saeed 16. Mr. Manzoor Ahmad Warraich 17. Rao Shafqat Ali Khan 18. Mr. Arfanullah Khan 19. M/s Raza & Khan 20. M/s JB Chambers 21. Mr. Salman Hamid Afridi 22. M/s Shaukat Law Associates 23. Syed Hasnain Haider 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
*Question No. 106. Senator Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar: (Notice received on 14-07-2017 at 02:10 p.m.)
Will the Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination be pleased to state the criteria laid down by the Pakistan Cricket Board for making or dividing the country into ‘regions’ for domestic cricket tournaments in the country?
Mr. Raiz Hussain Pirzada: Pakistan Cricket Team was eliminated in the first round from the World Cup 2003 held in South Africa. The team that was rated among the favorites of the World Cup and which had the names of some of the prominent cricket stars failed to qualify for the super six round of the World Cup 2003, which had disappointed not only the experts of the game of cricket but the entire nation, who follow this game very passionately. 28 In this background and at that time, Pakistan Cricket Board appointed a World Cup Review Committee with the aim to evaluate and assess the reasons based on various technical, administrative and other aspects of the failure and suggest measures to overcome the shortcomings for the future augmentation and improvement in the overall scenario. The committee was comprised of:—
1. Col (R) Naushad Ali (Test Cricketer) - Chairman 2. Mr. Aaqib Javed (Test Cricketer) - Member 3. Mr. Sultan Rana (Frist Class Cricketer) - Member 4. Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana (Advocate) - Member
The committee carried out in depth study on domestic structure and after detailed deliberation and discussion with the concerned quarters, proposed to divide the whole country in to Regions, where not only big cities but also smaller districts should be encouraged to join major cities to contribute in the overall development of the game of cricket in the country.
The committee recommended that the Regions may be formed along with some additional districts to be tagged in with a particular region based on the geographical location of such tagged districts for including them in respective regions. Subsequently following regions were formed to look after the needs and requirement of cricket in the newly formed regions, as recommended by the committee:
1. Quetta Region 2. Karachi Region 3. Hyderabad Region 4. Multan Region 5. Lahore Region 6. Faisalabad Region 7. Islamabad/Rawalpindi Region 8. Rawalpindi Region 9. Peshawar 10. Sialkot 29 The above regional headquarters were selected on the basis of Test/ International facilities like pitches, grounds and other training arrangements. The responsibility assigned to above regions was to organize regional tournaments at club level and to select a regional team.
Over the years, the number of Regions have increased to the following 16 as per notification dated 10th July 2014 issued by the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination, Government of Pakistan:—
1. Abbottabad Region 2. Bahawalpur Region 3. Dera Murad Jamali Region 4. Faisalabad Region 5. FATA Region 6. Hyderabad Region 7. Islamabad Region 8. Karachi Region 9. Lahore Region 10. Larkana Region 11. Multan Region 12. Peshawar Region 13. Quetta Region 14. Rawalpindi Region 15. Sialkot Region 16. Azad Jammu and Kashmir Region
The Regional Cricket Associations are responsible to promote, develop, regulate and maintain general control of cricket in their respective Regions. The Regional Cricket Associations are responsible to coordinate activities in respect of cricket including the holding and organizing of tournaments. *Question No. 107. Senator Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh: (Notice received on 18-07-2017 at 03:15 p.m.) Will the Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination be pleased to state: 30 (a) whether it is a fact that Drug Regulatory Authority (DRAP) has imposed huge fees on documentation for export of medicines, if so, the details and reasons thereof;
(b) whether it is also a fact that Pakistan could export medicines worth only 103.03 million dollars during the year 2015-16, if so, the reasons thereof; and
(c) whether it is further a fact that export of medicines in the country remained low during the last three years, if so, the reasons thereof?
Mrs. Saira Afzal Tarar: (a) No, there is no fee on the export NOC documentation for export of medicines in Pakistan.
(b) No, the exports of medicines from Pakistan , during the year 2015-16 were 204.41 million US dollars. It has now increased to 212.291 million US dollars for the year in 2016-17. Exports in pharma sector have shown resilience/ growth as compared to overall trend of exports.
(c) Pharma export before DRAP were nominal. DRAP started at end of 2012 and 2013 showed a high of exports of pharmaceuticals to “least regulated countries”. Various companies initiated exports due to least control in the beginning in the exporting countries. Many manufacturers submitted undertaking to the authorities of those countries for various regulatory commitments, but were not able to comply with their commitments, and after one year or so, or at the time of renewal of their product initial registration, the authorities started demanding, and thus their exports were halted/reduced. Similarly, the authorities of those countries started on-site inspection/audit of the exporting manufacturers in Pakistan and many were rejected even on the audits from countries like Srilanka, Sudan, Afghanistan etc. based on their country requirement. While, on contrary to these non-compliant companies, the exports are continually increasing of those companies which meet the compliance requirements, every year. Thus, increasing regulatory compliance requirements in the importing countries and non-compliance by those local pharmaceutical firms caused low in exports from Pakistan; whereas companies with better regulatory compliance have increased exports. It is expected now that the exports will gradually increase, as the image of Pakistani pharmaceutical products is improving.
It is pertinent to note that, while there was an overall decline of exports from Pakistan in most of the sectors also effecting pharmaceuticals in past years. 31 However, this negative recent trend has recently reversed and the export of pharmaceuticals from Pakistan is now increasing and it crossed the value of 212 million US dollars in 2016-17, from a drop of 204.4 million US dollars in year 2015-16.
Furthermore, allegations in the decrease of exports are contrary to the facts. The Govt. is taking initiatives with stake holders (pharma industries) to boost exports. Recently, M/o NHS, R & C, DRAP and PPMA organized a workshop on pharmaceutical exports. DRAP recently provided various facilitation to exporters, and also incentivized export policies, resulting in reversal of decline trend.
*Question No. 108. Senator Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh: (Notice received on 19-07-2017 at 04:00 p.m.)
Will the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Higher Education Institution or Degree Awarding Institutions (DAI) offer any facility like e-text books to the visually impaired or disabled students in the country, if so, the details thereof; and
(b) the names of public sector universities in the country which offer e-courses to the said students at present?
Mr. Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman: (a) A total of 16 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)/Degree Awarding Institutions (DAIS) offer facilities with reference to academics, infrastructural assistance etc. to the visual y impaired or disabled students across the country. The university-wise detail is attached at Annex-I.
(b) 02 Public Sector Universities i.e. Allama lqbal Open University (AIOU), Islamabad and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad offer e-courses to the said students at present.
Note: A total of 183 universities are in the country. The data from 107 universities/ DAIs have been received. The remaining data is being compiled and will be provided shortly. 32 33 34
*Question No. 111 Senator Sirajul Haq: (Notice received on 15-08-2017 at 10:00 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Foreign Affairs be pleased to state whether it is a fact that India is working on a plan to change the Muslim majority in occupied Kashmir into minority, if so, the steps taken or being taken by the Government to counter the same? 35 Khawaja Muhammad Asif: India has been trying to bring demographic changes to institute Hindu domination in Indian-occupied Kashmir. In this regards the Ministry has taken the following steps:
2. The former Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs sent a detailed lett( about Indian nefarious plans of bringing demographic changes to the UN Secretal General on 27 April, 2017. The same was circulated as official document of the Security Council on 18 May, 2017.
3. The current Foreign Minister issued a statement in the form of a Press release inviting the attention of the UN Secretary General on Indian Plans as well as condemning the ongoing atrocities in Indian IOK.
4. Both the letter written by the former Advisor as well as the Press release regardin statement of the current Foreign Minister on the issue is annexed.
(Annexures have been placed on the Table of the House as well as Library.)
*Question No. 112. Senator Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar: (Notice received on 16-08-2017 at 11:00 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Communications be pleased to state the time by which construction work on by-passes of Loralai will be completed?
Hafiz Abdul Kareem: The Design Consultants M/s AA Associates has been hired and survey for alignment is in progress.
The construction work of Loralai Bypasses will be started after finalization of the alignment, completion of cost estimate, design drawing, tendering and award process.
*Question No. 113. Senator Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar: (Notice received on 16-08-2017 at 11:00 a.m.)
Will the Minister for Communications be pleased to state whether it is a fact that the case for deputing the Motorway Police personnel at Kuchlak-Zhob and Saranan-Chaman Highway has not been approved so far, if so, the reasons thereof?
Hafiz Abdul Kareem: 1. National Highways & Motorway Police (NH&MP) is currently deployed on the following highways falling under Baluchistan 36 province. As per administrative structure of NH&MP, the roads falling in Baluchistan provinces fall under West Zone of NH&MP which is being administered by a Deputy Inspector General (BS-20). The details of operational area, beats and offices is as under:
2. NH&MP had taken up cases with Ministry of Finance through Ministry of Communications for creation of posts and approval of related budget for deployment of force on the remaining non- operational area (433-Kms) of RCD Highway (N-25) and on Kuchlak - Zhob D.1 Khan Road, (N-50). However, despite considerable time, the approval of posts and budget has not been conveyed as yet. The detail of posts and budget is as under:-
3. It is further submitted that a number of cases for creation of posts and approval of related budget were under process with Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communications and Establishment Division. Recently, (in June, 2017) Finance Division advised to submit all the cases in three phases. Accordingly, in first phase, a case was taken up to consider/approve 06-cases during current financial year, in which, two cases of Baluchistan province (N-50 and N-85) are included in the first phase (copy of letter attached). However, the Finance Division has once again returned the case in July, 2017 (copy of letter enclosed). The case of First Phase has once again been taken up on 08-08-2017 (copy of letter enclosed), which is under process with Ministry of Finance. The reasons regarding non- approval of the posts and related budget are best known to the concerned Ministries/Divisions. 37 4. In this connection, it is also worthwhile to mention here that even after sanction /approval of the required manpower, and logistics from the Federal Government, again it would not be practically possible to start policing at once, without compromising the quality of policing, due to the fact that the recruitment involves a long process due to involvement of codal formalities from advertisement till final selection. Thereafter, the selected officers have to undergo the basic police training and specialized National Highway & Motorway Police Training, as probationer and then finally they are able to be deployed for policing duties. This takes minimum 09-months period. As such, at least one and a half year (18-months) are normally required from advertisement till deployment. Therefore, the required manpower and logistics items need to be sanctioned/ approved on priority basis at this stage so that process of deployment/enforcement could be started.
(Annexures have been placed on the Table of the House as well as Library.)
ISLAMABAD: AMJED PERVEZ, The 14th September, 2017. Secretary.
PCPPI—4246(17) Senate—14-09-2017—275.