Islamabad, June 21, 2021 (PPI-OT): Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan says the government has introduced deep seated reforms to improve the efficiency of the energy sector. Participating in the budget debate in the National Assembly on Monday, he said the previous government of PML (N) signed expensive power contracts and the country continues to bear the brunt of it in the form of capacity payments.

He said the PML (N) government also abandoned renewable energy projects of four thousand megawatts. He said we gave the renewable policy and revived the renewable energy projects to improve their share in the energy mix. This, he said, will accrue a benefit of four thousand billion rupees to the country in the next fifteen years. The Minister for Economic Affairs said the PTI government signed a cheaper LNG agreement with Qatar, which will help the country save 3.5 billion dollars in ten years. He said we have made massive investments in the power distribution and transmission system and steps are also being taken to address the issue of circular debt.

Participating in the budget debate, Raja Pervez Ashraf said efforts should be made to ensure food security saying this is important for the development of the country. He said the budget envisages no incentives for the farmers. He said the proposal of granting arrest powers to the FBR should be withdrawn as it will only pave way for harassment of taxpayers.

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