1 (47th 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 Friday, the 6th October, 2017 66. *Shaikh Rohale Asghar: (Deferred during 46th Session.) Will the Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony be pleased to refer to the Starred Question No.204 replied on 21-04-2017 and to state the total number of persons sent for Hajj-2017 by the Ministry under the Government Hajj Scheme and Private Hajj Scheme separately? Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony (Sardar Muhammad Yousaf): With the approval of the Cabinet, 60% Hujjaj performed Hajj-2017 under the Governemnt Hajj Scheme and 40% Hujjaj under Private Hajj Scheme as per following detail:— —————————————————————————————— Description No. of Hujjaj —————————————————————————————— Government Hajj 107,526 Scheme (60%) Private Hajj Scheme 71,684 (40%) —————————————————————————————— Total:— 179,210 —————————————————————————————— 79. *Mr. Junaid Akbar: (Deferred during 46th Session.) Will the Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony be pleased to state whether there is any proposal under consideration of 2 the Government to give priority to the persons to perform Hajj-2018 who were dropped in the draw held for Hajj-2017; if so, the details; if not, the alternate idea/proposal/programme therefor? Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony (Sardar Muhammad Yousaf): Due to large number of unsuccessful hajj applicants in the past, there is no such proposal under consideration of the Government to give priority to those Hajj applicants who remained continuously unsuccessful during the last few years. However, Ministry will place the same proposal before the Hajj Policy Formulation Committee consitituted by Supreme Court of Pakistan for consideration for Hajj-2018. 85. *Dr. Mahreen Razaque Bhutto: (Deferred during 46th Session.) Will the Minister for Industries and Production be pleased to state: (a) the detail of exemptions and concessions given to the industrial sector since 01-01-2013; and (b) the detail of milestones achieved therefrom so far? Minister for Industries and Production (Mr. Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi): (a) The detail of exemption and concessions given to the Industrial sector are as under:— • Automotive Sector: Auto Development Policy (ADP) – 2016-21 offered following incentives to investors: Category-A:Greenfield Investment is defined as the installation of new and independent automotive assembly and manufacturing facilities by an investor for the production of vehicles of a make not already being assembled/manufactured in Pakistan. (Note: “Make” is defined as any vehicle of whatever variant produced by the same manufacturer) 3 Category-A:Investment Incentives (a) Duty-free import of plant and machinery for setting up the assembly and/or manufacturing facility on a one-time basis; (b) Import of 100 vehicles of the same variant in CBU form at 50 percent of the prevailing duty for test marketing after ground breaking of the project; (c) Concessional rate of customs duty @ 10 percent on non-localized parts and @ 25 percent on localized parts for a period of five years for the manufacturing of Cars and LCVs; (d) Import of all parts (both localized and non-localized) at prevailing customs duty applicable to non-localized parts for manufacturing of trucks, buses and prime movers for a period of three years, and Category-B: Brownfield Investment is defined as revival of an existing assembly and/or manufacturing facilities, that is non­operational or closed on or before July 01, 2013 and the make is not in production in Pakistan since that date and that the revival is undertaken either independently by original owners or new investors or under joint venture agreement with foreign principal or by foreign principal independently through purchase of plant. Category-B: Investment Incentives (a) Import of non-localized parts at 10 percent rate of customs duty and localized parts at 25 percent duty for a period of three years for the manufacturing of Cars and LCVs. and (b) import of all parts (both localized and non-localized) at prevailing customs duty applicable to non-localized parts for manufacturing of trucks, buses and prime movers for a period of three years (Annex-I). General Industry Exemption and concessions as under fifth schedule Part-I “Imports of Plant, Machinery, Equipment and Apparatus, including Capital Goods for various industries/ sectors” (Annex-II). 4 Part-II “Import of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, Excepients / Chemicals, Drugs, Packing Material/ Raw Materials for Packing and Diagnostic Kits and Equipments, Components and other Goods” (Annex-III). Part-III Concessions on the input of “Raw Materials/ inputs for Poultry and Textile Sector; Other Goods” (Annex-IV). Part-IV Concessions on the input of “Imports of Machinery and Equipment for Textile Sector” (Annex-V). Part-VI Concessions on the input of “Imports of Aviation Related Goods i.e. Aircrafts and Parts etc. by Airline Companies/ Industry under National Aviation Policy 2015” (Annex-VI). Customs Tariff Rationalization/ Budget exercise on continuous basis annually in consultation with industry to reduce cost of inputs to promote domestic manufacturing of the country. Revisit of Free Trade Agreements/ Preferential Trade agreements in consultation with domestic manufacturing industry with a view to protect the local capacities/ competencies, boost trade competitiveness and draw mutual benefits to promote manufacturing industry (Annex-VII). (b) Under ADP 2016-21, So far 10 applications have been received from new investors for incentive/exemptions of Greenfield Category of the ADP-2016-21 and four of them have been granted Greenfield status by Ministry of Industries and Production on the recommendations of EDB. MoIP/EDB carries out ‘Competitiveness and Efficiency Improvement Exercise’ for the budget every year in extensive consultation with the industry to formulate proposals for inclusion in the National Budget with the following objectives:- Reducing cost of doing business by decreasing cost of inputs Simplifying procedures for payment of Customs Duty, Sales Tax and Federal Excise 5 To counter the menace of under-invoicing, smuggling and mis- declaration To encourage import substitution In the light of foregoing, series of sectoral meetings were held certain entries/products have been retained under each SRO/ fifth schedule to encourage the investment, local manufacturing of the engineering, automotive and other industrial goods. SRO’s were simplified to address redundancy and addition of certain material to encourage the material manufacturing (Annex-VIII). (Annexures have been placed in the National Assembly Library) 87. *Ms. Aisha Syed: (Deferred during 46th Session.) Will the Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony be pleased to state: (a) the detail of the amount received from Hujjaj during Hajj-2017; and (b) the details of the facilities provided to Hujjaj during the said Hajj? Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony (Sardar Muhammad Yousaf): (a) Amounting to Rs. 29, 752,855,440.00 (Rupees twenty nine billion seven hundred fifty two million eight hundred fifty five thousand four hundred forty only) received from Hujjaj for Hajj 2017. (b) (i) Best accommodation was hired for Hujjaj in Makkah Mukarramah. (ii) Maximum Hujjaj were accommodated (Markazia) in Madinah Munawwarah (iii) Three time food was served to all Hujjaj for 37 days. Following facilities were provided in Mashair:— 6 (a) Three time cooked meal. (b) Fire proof tents in Arafat. (c) Filtered water and two times tea in each Makatib, and mattresses were also provided in Mina. (iv) Latest VIP buses were provided from Jeddah to Makkah Mukarramah. (v) Introduced very first time Express service at Hajj Terminal Jeddah/ Madinah Munawwrah (Airports). Resultantly Hujjaj departed from Jeddah/Madinah Airports well in time. 147. *Shaikh Rohale Asghar: (Deferred during 46th Session.) Will the Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordinations be pleased to state: (a) the name of countries to which Pakistani passengers are not allowed to take medicines with them at present; and (b) whether any publication for public awareness regarding such ban is being published/made in Pakistan? Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordinations (Mrs. Saira Afzal Tarar): (a) DRAP performs its functions under the Drugs Act, 1976/ The DRAP Act, 2012 and Rules framed / thereunder, and there is no country specific restriction/prohibition on Pakistani passengers to take medicines aboard along with them as per said Act or Rules. (b) As mentioned above in response to part (a), there is no such ban/ restriction imposed on public in Pakistan, therefore no publication exists. Such an export is dependent on the host/recipient country’s regulation. A person is supposed to confirm all such things that he/she takes with him/her (not only drugs) while travelling to any country. 7 187. *Mr. Nauman Islam Shaikh: (Deferred during 46th Session.) Will the Minister for Water Resources be pleased to state the total amount allocated by the Government for hydro power projects since 01-06-2013 alongwith the details thereof? Minister for Water Resources (Syed Javed Ali Shah): Rs. 705,477.583 million have been allocated by the present Government for hydro power projects since 01-06-2013. Details of projects are attached at Annex-A. (Annexure has been placed in the National Assembly Library) 33. *Ms. Shagufta Jumani: (Deferred during 46th Session.) Will the Minister for Water Resources be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has made any project to assess/realize the potential of Hydropower in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan; (b) if so, the details; if not, the reasons thereof? Minister for Water Resources (Syed Javed Ali Shah): (a) & (b) The hydropower potential in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir has been identified as 22,610 MW and 8,511 MW respectively so far. The list of identified / developed hydropower potential in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan is attached at Annex-I.