The government has moved forward with a Rs. 57.1 billion project to digitize and modernize the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), with the initiative aimed at increasing tax collection and bringing more people into the formal tax system.
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) recommended the Transforming and Digitalizing Revenue Administration (TADRA) Project to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
The project is proposed to be funded through foreign financing under Asian Development Bank technical assistance and a soft-term loan.
During the meeting, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal directed that the project should have clear and measurable targets. He particularly stressed the need to measure its impact on additional revenue, the tax-to-GDP ratio and the size of the taxpayer base.
FBR officials said the project is expected to help increase Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio to 13.5 percent by 2029 while expanding the number of taxpayers in the formal economy.
The CDWP recommended the project to ECNEC subject to a detailed review of its business model by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).
Separately, the CDWP approved a Rs. 5.01 billion project to expand commercial-scale olive cultivation in Pakistan. The project will focus on developing olive farms in Balochistan and the newly merged districts, while the minister also directed officials to include the potential of the Potohar region.
The forum also approved a Rs. 5.76 billion project for the rehabilitation and upgrading of facilities at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad.
The project covers the rehabilitation of existing facilities, electrical systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing and firefighting systems, as well as the installation of new security and surveillance infrastructure.
Another Rs. 338.2 million project was approved to strengthen the high-frequency radio network of WAPDA’s Water Resources Management Directorate.
The CDWP considered seven development projects in total, approving five with a combined cost of Rs. 21.59 billion and recommending two projects worth Rs. 94.3 billion to ECNEC.
