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 Wednesday, the 14th November, 2012 (Originally Starred Question Nos. 45, 47, 52, 54, 55 and 59 were set down for answer during the 46th Session) 45. *Ms. Khalida Mansoor: Will the Minister for Production be pleased to state whether it is a fact that the government has made a new plan to make Pakistan Steel Mills, Karachi profitable during the year 2012-13; if so, the details thereof? Minister for Production (Mr. Anwar Ali Cheema): The Government is striving hard to pull out Pakistan Steel Mills from losses and to make it profitable. In this regard CCOR in its meeting held on 28th June 2012 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh resolved to revitalize and develop PSM into profitable entity. In the afore said meeting Pakistan Steel Mills submitted a business plan based on 63% capacity utilization for the year 2012-13. It was agreed to plan/ achieve average capacity utilization of 50% to 55% for the year 2012-13, following a more flatter trajectory for revival. The ECC in its meeting held on 24th July, 2012, while endorsing the above recommendations of CCOR approved funding requirement for the PSM as under: 2 Rupees in Million —————————————————————————————— Month of Term Loan Markup Total Disbursement from NBP free loan from GoP —————————————————————————————— July 2012* 3,800 300 4,100 October 2012 5,050 300 5,350 January 2013 2,600 400 3,000 April 2013 2,150 — 2,150 —————————————————————————————— Total: 13,600 1,000 14,600 —————————————————————————————— *Rs. 3.8 billion received in mid of August instead of July 2012. 47. *Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb: Will the Minister for National Regulations and Services be pleased to state: (a) the steps taken by the present government in order to provide medicines to the public on cheaper rates; and (b) the achievements gained therefrom? Minister for National Regulations and Services (Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan): (a) The Federal Government regulates prices of medicines under Section 12 of the Drug, Act 1976 and has taken the following steps to provide medicines on cheaper rates: (a) A Drugs Pricing Committee has been constituted in the Drug Regulatory Agency of Pakistan which has nominees from Pakistan Medical Associations and Consumer Groups in addition to representation of all provincial Health Authorities and Ministry of Finance to watch the interest of public. (b) Drug Regulatory Agency encourages early launching of generic/me too drugs at much cheaper rates than the brand leaders. 3 (c) Price adjustments are allowed only on justified hardship cases keeping in view prices of raw materials, inflation rates and other such factors. (b) Impact of the above steps taken by the present Government is given as under: (a) Despite high inflation and increase in the prices of essential items of common use, prices of medicines have not increased proportionatly. As a matter of fact prices of many medicines have not increased during this period or have been increased nominally. (b) Recently prices of 92 essential drugs (list attached) were increased arbitrarily by the Pharmaceutical Companies without approval of the Federal Government, which were reduced by the Drug Regulatory Agency of Pakistan to provide relief to the general public. (Annexure has been placed in the National Assembly Library) 52. *Mrs. Seema Mohiuddin Jameeli: Will the Minister for Works be pleased to state: (a) the year-wise total number of government houses/flats constructed for government employees in Islamabad during the last four years till date; and (b) the names of firms that constructed said flats/houses alongwith the rates thereof? Minister for Works (Mr. Liaqat Abbas Bhatti): (a) No government house/flat has been constructed for government employees in Islamabad during the last four years till date; (b) Not applicable. 4 54. *Ms. Parveen Masood Bhatti: Will the Minister for Religious Affairs be pleased to state: (a) whether the transport arrangements for Hajj-2012 have been completed; (b) if not, the steps taken to improve the said arrangements? Minister for Religious Affairs (Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah): (a) Yes. (b) Not applicable. 55. *Malik Shakir Bashir Awan: Will the Minister for Works be pleased to state: (a) the year-wise development schemes assigned to Pak-PWD during the last four years alongwith the present status thereof; and (b) whether it is a fact that a number of those schemes have not been completed so far; if so, the reasons thereof? Minister for Works (Mr. Liaqat Abbas Bhatti): (a) Total 6216 schemes of PWP-I at a cost of Rs. 9171.525 million were approved during the last four years. Out of which 5417 schemes have been completed. Similarly total 14092 schemes of PWP-II at a cost of Rs. 47334.088 million were approved during the last four years. Out of which 12839 have been completed, Details are at Annex-A. (b) About 90% schemes have been completed. However, completion of some schemes have been delayed due to late release of funds, change of site/location, non-availability of site, disputes among the residents and non re- validation of funds etc. which shall be completed as and when such bottlenecks are removed. 5 6 59. *Sheikh Salahuddin: Will the Minister for National Regulations and Services be pleased to state the subjects assigned to the Ministry alongwith its performance since its establishment? Reply not received. 21. *Mrs. Shagufta Sadiq: Will the Minister for Industries be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that other companies except Suzuki and Toyota are manufacturing the vehicles in the country; if so, the details thereof; and (b) whether there is any proposal under consideration to set up new car manufacturing plants in the country; if so, when it will be implemented? Minister for Industries (Ch. Pervaiz Ellahi): (a) Yes, Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Ltd., is manufacturing cars in the country in addition to Suzuki and Toyota. The details of Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Ltd., are enclosed as Annex-I. (b) There is no such proposal under consideration to establish a new car manufacturing plant in the country in the near future. 7 8 22. *Ms. Shireen Arshad Khan: Will the Minister for Textile Industry be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that a large number of Power Looms and sizing sectors have been closed in the country during the last five years; if so, the reasons thereof; and (b) the total number of employees of the said sectors who have been rendered jobless therefrom? Minister for Textile Industry (Makhdoom Shahabuddin): (a) Textiles sector represents longest agro-manufacturing value chain starting from seed, natural fiber, synthetic fiber, yarn, greige fabric, processed fabric, garments, made-ups and high value added brands. The textiles industry setup in our country is dependent on exports as approximately 80% of the goods produced are exported in one form or another. Due to international slow down and domestic macro issues including energy crisis it has been reported by association concerned that in last five years approximately around 40,000 power looms of different sizes i.e. 44, 52, 114 and 120 inches have been closed. It has also been reported by the Association concerned that 12% of units closed have diverted to other textiles subsector including embroidery. Further, due to closing of power looms the upstream sizing industry also closed down which again becomes operational on working of power looms. (b) Although exact number of employees cannot be determined as majority of power loom is in cottage industry and self owned and is not documented being in the informal sector. However, it is estimated that around 30,000 labourers are affected during non-operational period. It is also estimated that 17% of labor has now been working for other textiles sectors including embroidery 23. *Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that two Power Plants for the generation of electricity are being installed at Tharparkar; 9 (b) if so, the annual quantum of electricity to be generated therefrom alongwith the time by which the generation of electricity will be started therefrom? Reply not received. 24. *Ms. Tasneem Siddiqui: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state whether it is possible to end the load shedding of electricity in the country; if so, the steps taken in this regard so far? Reply not received. 25. *Ms. Khalida Mansoor: Will the Minister for Water and Power be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that Norway has offered to generate electricity from the sea waves; if so, the details thereof; and (b) the time by which the electricity will be generated therefrom? Minister for Water and Power (Ch. Ahmed Mukhtar): (a) & (b) There is no such proposal submitted before Ministry of Water and Power. 26. *Ms. Nighat Parveen Mir: Will the Minister for Housing be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that there is a shortage of Government residential accommodations for Federal Government employees in the country and particularly in Islamabad; (b) if so, the steps taken by the Government to meet the said shortage during the year 2012-13? Minister for Housing (Sardar Talib Hassan Nakai): (a) Yes, it is a fact that there is shortage of housing units for allotment to Federal Government 10 employees in the country. There are a total of 29000 official residential accommodations as against a total number of 465,000 Federal Government Employees. (b) (I) The Federal Cabinet imposed ban on new construction of official residences for the federal government employees on 13-3-1995.