ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Wednesday passed three bills — The Abandoned Properties (Management) (Amendment) Bill, 2024 , The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and The Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
The Abandoned Properties (Management) (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was introduced by Senator Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan, while The Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was introduced by Senator Dr Afnan Ullah Khan after undertaking exhaustive discussions in multiple meetings. The Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was the government bill. The meeting was presided by committee chairman Senator Rana Mahmood-ul-Hassan at the Parliament House, here.
The committee considered the calling attention notice of Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri “to draw the attention of minister-in-charge of the Prime Minister Office towards the alarming statistics reported by United Nation’s fact-finding mission’s report of August, 2024 pertaining to massive destruction and displacement caused by floods in Sindh and Balochistan”, and directed the Member Operations, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), to address any queries raised by the member and dispose of the matter in the next meeting.
The committee also sought briefing from managing director Public Procurement and Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and recommended that it should ensure representation from all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad Capital Territory in addition to four parliamentarians in its board in order to make its functioning more transparent and independent.
Director Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) briefed the committee on the work undertaken by his organisation along with some operational challenges faced by them due to devolution.
The committee was told that efforts were being made to brand Pakistan as an attractive tourist destination, adding a number of initiatives in this regard were under way. Chairman STZA informed the committee that there were 18 STZAs in different cities of the country.
The committee appreciated the public-private model adopted by STZA and recommended that more such zones should be established.