ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR   -  Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday di­rected the privatization ministry to present the final schedule for the implementation of the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines. PM Shehbaz issued these directions while presiding over a high-level meeting regarding the privatisation of PIA and the restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue in Islamabad.

The prime minister emphasised ensuring transparency at all stag­es in the privatisation process of the National Airline and clarified that laziness and care­lessness will not be tol­erated in this regard.

The progress of the privatisation of PIA so far and the upcom­ing steps in this regard were reviewed in the meeting. The prime minister further directed the law minis­try to immediately make recom­mendations for the resolution of pending cases and legal disputes in the courts related to tax col­lections and revenue so that the hurdles in the way of disburse­ment of 1.7 trillion rupees to the national exchequer can be re­solved. He also directed to sub­mit proposals regarding the es­tablishment of legal department in the Federal Board of Revenue. Giving in-principle approval of the proposed roadmap of FBR automation system, the Prime Minister directed to implement this roadmap with a clear time frame. He asked that targets not only be realistic but also the fastest in the region in terms of speed of implementation.

Shehbaz Sharif said there is no time to waste and expressed re­solve to work round the clock to achieve this goal. He said this is the question of country’s bright future and economic recovery. 

Meanwhile, automation of FBR, ensuring transparency in the system, structural reforms according to global standards, increase in tax through incen­tives, elimination of corruption and smuggling, separation of in­land revenue and customs de­partments and tax rates came under discussion in the meeting.

He termed implementation of reforms as inevitable to achieve the six to seven percent national growth rate. Expressing desire to modernize tax and revenue sys­tem, the Prime Minister called for introducing incentive based tax system. He asked business com­munity to play its role in the devel­opment and social service of the people of country. He emphasized to fully check the exemptions giv­en on all taxes and ensure an effec­tive third party audit system.

Shehbaz Sharif said if Small Medium Enterprises had been developed today, then Pakistan would not be behind the devel­oped countries of the world. He said that now SMEs sector will be promoted which was not encour­aged in last forty years. On this occasion, Dr Shamshad Akhtar told the meeting that tax to GDP in Pakistan is less than 9.5 per­cent as compared to the rest of the world, which is very import­ant for the development of Paki­stan. She said that 55.6 percent do not pay any tax while only 3.3 percent pay tax. She further said that two hundred thousand peo­ple pay ninety percent of tax.

‘PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION’

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday di­rected to ensure payment of compensation to the owners of houses damaged by rains and snowfall in Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa till March 11.

The prime minister issued the directives while presiding over a high level meeting to the Gov­ernor House to review damag­es caused by the recent rains and snowfall in Khyber Pak­thunkhwa and rescue and reha­bilitation efforts.

Besides others, the meeting was attended by Senator Ish­aq Dar, Members of the Nation­al Assembly Khawaja Muham­mad Asif, Attaullah Tarar, Engr Amir Muqam and Murtaza Javed Abbasi, and National Disasters Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik. The prime minister was also given a detailed briefing on the measures taken by the pro­vincial administration, Provin­cial Disaster Management Au­thority, NDMA and National Highway Authority.

It was informed that a total of 40 persons were killed and 62 injured in the rain-related inci­dents across the province. Sim­ilarly, 635 houses were com­pletely or partially damaged.

On the prime minister’s di­rectives, the compensation of Rs 2 million each to the heirs each deceased and Rs 500,000 each to the injured, besides Rs 700,000 each for fully dam­aged and Rs 350,000 partial­ly damaged houses, was being being given. It was further in­formed that all main highways in the affected areas were par­tially opened as work on clear­ing landslides and snow was still underway. The meeting was told that all the departments were fully prepared to cope with any emergency situation that might arise due to expected snowfall in next few days.

The prime minister said that the Federal Government stood with the affected people of KP in the hour of hardship and tribu­lation and would provide them maximum support. He direct­ed all the relevant organizations and departments to take part in the relief and rehabilitation ac­tivities in the affected areas.