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 Monday, the 3rd October, 2016 169. *Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak: (Deferred during 34th Session) Will the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training be pleased to state whether it is a fact that the funds allocated for education in budget 2013 to 2016 are not compatible with the funds allocated by other developing countries in their budgets for the said purpose; if so, the reasons thereof? Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training: Budgetary allocation for education sector by governments in last three year is as follows: Expenditure on edcation in South and West Asian countries is given below: 2 Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015, UNESCO The primary reason for allocating less percentage of GDP toward education owes to the less fiscal space available. Pakistan’s tax to GDP ratio was hardly around 8.1% in 2013. However, Pakistan’s good performance in Finance & tax collection raised the tax to GDP ratio to around 12.2% and so is the case with our public expenditure which has gone up from around Rs. 520 billion in 2012-13 to 768 billions in 2015-16. Similarly, in terms of percentage of GDP it is going up from around 1.97% in 2012-13 towards 2.5% in 2016. 3 143. *Ms. Naseema Hafeez Panezai: (Deferred during 35th Session) Will the Minister In-charge of the Cabinet Division be pleased to refer to the Starred Question No. 132 replied on 08-08-2016 and to state: (a) the time by which the last Third Party Evaluation (TPE) of Pakistan Bait-ul-Mall (PBM) was carried out; (b) whether it is a fact that the TPE of PBM has not been carried out during the last five years; if so, the reasons thereof; and (c) the comparison of performance of the PBM made during the tenure of the present Government and previous Government? Minister In-charge of the Cabinet Division: (a) The Third Party Evaluation of PBM Child Support Program (CSP) was carried out in September, 2013. (b) TPE of all projects of PBM could not be carried out due to financial constraints. However, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Consultants were hired in year 2015 to strengthen the internal M&E Department. (c) The comparison of performance of PBM during the tenure of the present and previous Government is placed at Annex. (Annexure has been placed in the National Assembly Library) 150. *Ms. Musarat Rafique Mahesar: (Deferred during 35th Session) Will the Minister In-charge of the Aviation Division be pleased to state: (a) the expenditure incurred to bring the Prime Minister of Pakistan back after his treatment from London via special chartered plane; and (b) the details of amount paid as parking fee at London Airport for the said plane? Reply not recieved. 4 121. *Sardar Muhammad Amjad Farooq Khan Khosa: Will the Minister In-charge of the Capital Administration and Development be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the bridge leading to the Quaid-e-Azam University from Bari Imam, Islamabad is in a dilapidated condition at present; and (b) whether there is any proposal under consideration of the Government to re-construct the said bridge; if so, the time by which it will be reconstructed? Transferred to Interior Division for answer on Next Rota Day. 122. *Mr. Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi: Will the Minister In-charge of the Capital Administration and Development Division be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that a number of medical equipments of the Federal Government Hospitals are non-functional since long; if so, the details thereof; (b) whether it is also a fact that the Government has any monitoring mechanism to ensure proper maintenance of said equipments; if so, the details thereof; (c) the funds allocated and utilized for purchase of medical equipments for said Hospitals during the last three years; and (d) the steps taken by the present Government for the proper maintenance of the medical equipments in said hospitals? Minister In-charge of the Capital Administration and Development Division: (a) (i) PIMS It is not a fact that a number of medical equipment of PIMS is non- functional since long. A list of updated status of Biomedical equipment of PIMS is submitted at Annex-A. 5 (ii) FGPC It is not fact that large numbers of equipments are non-functional. However, most equipment was installed about 10 to 15 years ago because there was ban for purchase of equipment. The ban was lifted in the financial year in the financial year 2013-14. (iii) NIRM NIRM was operationalized in 1997 and medical equipment was purchased at that time. A large proportion of this equipment is still in use and timely repairs are performed to keep it functional. Furthermore, new equipment has also been added to improve service delivery to patients with disabilities. Only a few pieces of equipment are nonfunctional due to nonavailability of parts of old models. A case regarding new equipment is under process. (b) (i) PIMS It is intimated that PIMS has monitoring mechanism to ensure proper maintenance of said equipment through the Administration, end-users, and PIMS Electro Medical staff. A list of electro medical staff and a list of major biomedical equipment under service/ maintenance through contract are enclosed at Annex-B. (ii) FGPC This hospital is examining the creation of a post of Bio-Medical Engineer, so that proper maintenance of equipment can be started for smooth functioning of hospital. (iii) NIRM Maintenance of medical equipment at NIRM is contracted out on annual tender basis to electromedical firms who are responsible for smooth functioning and preventive maintenance as well as provision of parts. (c) (i) PIMS The details of the fund allocated and utilized for purchase of medical equipment or the last 03 years in PIMS are submitted t at Annex-C. 6 (ii) FGPC The details of the fund allocated and utilized for purchase of medical equipment for the last 03 years in FGPC. —————————————————————————————— Details 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 —————————————————————————————— Allocation 12,300,000/- 82,858,000/- 63,574,176/ Expenditure 12,297,940/- 83,346,384/- 63,956,574/- —————————————————————————————— (iii) NIRM The detail of funds allocation and utilization for purchase of medical equipments during last three years is as under: —————————————————————————————— No. Budget Allocation of Utilization year budget —————————————————————————————— 1. 2013-14 10,000 Surrendered 2. 2014-15 39,000 39,000 3. 2015-16 2,294,000 2,294,000 —————————————————————————————— (d) (i) PIMS The detail of steps taken so far for maintenance of medical equipment in PIMS is mentioned at Annex-A. (ii) FGPC There was budget allocation for repair & maintenance of Plant and Machinery. Time to time repair were made as per requirements. (iii) NIRM The present government is proactively engaged in improvement of equipment status of this hospital. Proposals have been invited under the PM Health Initiative for provision of new equipment. (Annexures have been placed in the National Assembly Library) 7 123. *Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar: Will the Minister In-charge of the Aviation Division be pleased to refer to the Starred Question No.293 replied on 17-08-2016 and to state: (a) the per flight total number of passengers travelled to Barcelona by the Pakistan International Airlines as on 31-12-2012, 30-06-2013 and at the time of its discontinuation alongwith the details of passengers thereof; and (b) the Airline-wise flights other than PIA are coming from the said Airport to Pakistan at present alongwith the total number of passengers being travelled thereby, separately? Minister In-charge of the Aviation Division: (a) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––—– As on From/To No. of Seat Passengers factor (%) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––—– 31-12-2012 Islamabad-Barcelona 172 54.3 Barcelona-Lahore 226 69 30-6-2013 Islamabad-Barcelona 211 64.7 Barcelona-Lahore 160 49 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––—– During 31-12-2012 and 30-06-2013, 18,889 passengers travelled on 107 flights of PIA between Barcelona and Pakistan; which comes to average of 176 passengers per flight. Before the closure of the said operation in February 2015, PIA operated 12 flights during Jan-Feb 2015 and 1,442 passengers travelled during this period with an average of 120 passengers per flight. (b) Presently Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are operating their flights between Barcelona and Pakistan via their hub stations i.e. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha respectively for transporting majority of passengers to Pakistan. However, detail of passengers who travelled by above mentioned airlines is not available, as the same is available only with them. 8 124. *Ms. Munaza Hassan: Will the Minister for Railways be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that Pakistan is purchasing the Railway Locomotives from the United States of America; if so, the numbers alongwith the prices thereof; and (b) the total number of locomotives purchased by Pakistan during the last five years from other countries alongwith the total amount spent on their purchase? Minister for Railways (Khawaja Saad Rafique): (a) Yes, it is a fact that Pakistan Railways is purchasing 55 locomotives (4000-4500 HP) from United States of America. On finalization of a competitive bidding process, Pakistan Railways signed a contract agreement amounting to US$ 213,689 million with Ms. General Electric (GE), United States of America on 20-06-2015. (b) Sixty Three (63) locomotives were received in the year 2013-14 and 2014-15 which were purchased against contract agreement with M/s. CSR Ziyang, China in financial year 2012-13. The total amount spent on their purchase was US$ 129.688 Million.