Senate Secretariat ————— “Questions
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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.