KARACHI (June 17 2003) : The restructuring of Sindh Provincial Co-operative Bank (SPCB) will be completed after the clearance of its liabilities of 30 million rupees, said Sindh Finance and Co-operatives Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed, in his budget speech, on Monday.
A token capital amount of 13 million rupees has been earmarked to launch banks operations, he said, adding if deemed necessary, the provincial government will increase the allocation for the co-operative bank.
Syed Sardar Ahmed said the Sindh Rural Development Project is being launched at a cost of 3.7 billion rupees in cities like Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Thatta, Ghotki and Jacobabad Districts.
He said the Sindh government has also planned a package for the revival of the Co-operative Movement on modern lines encouraging the private sector, non-governmental organisations to form societies, companies, associations for extending short-term credit for quality seed, fertiliser, pesticides and for marketing the products without the intervention of the middleman and without any interference from the co-operative or any other government department, exclusively for the benefit of farmers owning land not exceeding 32 acres.
The credit and marketing co-operative societies will also be eligible to secure credit for onward loaning to its members owning land not exceeding 64 acres, he added.
The Sindh government also provided 190 million rupees in the ADP 2003-04 for the acquisition of earthmoving machinery, including the purchase of bulldozers and laser land levelling equipment for leasing out to the landowners on reasonable rates, said the minister.
He said the limits of exemption for the land tax and the agriculture income tax for small farmers has been increased.
The Sindh finance minister said for the agriculture research (gene mutation and genetic engineering) project costing 10 million rupees has been provided.
