- Three-member committee set up to submit a viable proposal for purpose in next meeting
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has formed a three-member committee to submit a viable proposal in the next meeting of the committee regarding relaxation from the relending policy of the government for National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
According to sources, ECC meeting held on 23rd November, 2023 under the chair of Ms. Shamshad Akhtar, Minister for Finance, Revenue & Economic Affairs, had considered a summary submitted by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) regarding “Relaxation from Relending Policy of Government of Pakistan for NADRA” and discussed a proposal for the exemption of NADRA from the Re-lending Policy of the Government of Pakistan. The exemption was sought in connection with the Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP), a World Bank-assisted initiative aims at enhancing the government’s capacity for digitally enabled service delivery for citizens and businesses.
The ECC after detailed deliberation formed a committee comprising of Secretary Finance Division, Secretary Economic Affairs Division and Secretary Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication to submit a viable proposal in the next ECC meeting.
During the course of this ECC meeting, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication briefed the forum that the Digital Economy Enhancement Project (DEEP) was a World Bank assisted project with the objective to enhance the government’s capacity for digitally enabled services delivery for citizens and businesses.
The project would not only provide ease to citizens and businesses but would also enable higher degree of transparency, lower the cost of processing, and increase the tax collection capabilities of the federal and provincial governments.
The project had been developed in collaboration with the World Bank which was providing financing assistance worth US$ 77.73 million. The project was recommended to Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) by Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in its meeting held on 19th October 2022. The project was approved by ECNEC in its meeting held on 6th April 2023 and authorization from Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives was issued on 17th May 2023. Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication was the sponsoring agency of the project.
Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) further informed that the ministry held multiple stakeholder sessions involving federal and provincial government entities and it is through these sessions that NADRA was identified as the most suitable federal government entity to implement the two component i-e Development and Implementation of Interoperability Exchange Layer and National Digital ID and Digital ID and Digital Vault (“Digital ID” can not be issued by any other entity in Pakistan other than NADRA-it is the digital equivalent of National ID Card and would contain personal record which only NADRA was authorized to maintain).
NADRA had already facilitated about 1000 entities in digitalization and had a vantage point to effectively operationalize the Data Exchange Layer once it had been developed. As per approved Re-lending Policy of the Government of Pakistan, re-lending to autonomous bodies, in this case NADRA, would be made on the same financing terms and conditions as borrowed by the federal government from the foreign lender.
In addition, a fixed administrative charge of 0.25percent would be charged. The requirement for exemption of NADRA from re-lending policy was highlighted by EAD (Economic Affairs Division) after the project was approved by ECNEC. The competent forum for any exemption from the terms specified in the policy is the ECC of the Cabinet.
Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication requested the ECC to grant exemption to NADRA from the re-lending policy for execution of the two components under DEEP and allow that US$ 24.633 million are provided to NADRA as a grant for carrying out its part of the project activities.
As per sources, during the discussion, concerns were raised about revenue-earning institutions seeking exemptions, suggesting that such entities should bear normal costs as per ECC decisions made in other cases. In response, the ECC decided to form a committee, comprising the Secretary of Finance Division, Secretary of Economic Affairs Division, and Secretary of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, to submit a viable proposal at the next ECC meeting.
It is pertinent to mention that the proposed exemption for NADRA will be carefully evaluated, taking into account the potential benefits of DEEP and the financial implications for the federal government. The outcome of the committee’s deliberations will play a crucial role in shaping the future of digital services and data management in Pakistan.
