April 4, 2003	Friday	Safar 1, 1424

PESHAWAR, April 3: The NWFP government’s cash balance has gone into negative for the first time after three years due mainly to heavy shortfall recorded in its receipts’ head of net hydel profit during the current financial year, according to sources.

The province’s account number-1, said the sources, went into negative by over Rs30m recently due to Wapda’s persistent decline to start releasing funds to it against its capped share amount for the current financial year. The province has so far received Rs1bn from Wapda out of its Rs6bn capped share amount of net profit.

Official sources rejected the impression that the province had been released Rs3bn during the current financial year — including Rs1bn by January last and Rs2bn in March 2003.

“This is totally wrong,” said the senior official sources. The Provincial Minister for Finance, Planning and Development, Siraj-ul-Haq, in a recently press conference, had also admitted that the province had only Rs1bn.

He had told journalists that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, in his visit to Peshawar on March 8 had given an assurance to the provincial cabinet that Rs2bn would shortly be released to the province, adding that the PM’s assurance has yet to see the light of the day.

“The provincial government’s cash balance,” said the sources “experienced negative trend only because of the stoppage of funds against its capped share amount of net hydel profit for the current financial year”.

In this respect, the NWFP government has once again moved the Federal Finance Division, Islamabad, to make Wapda start releasing funds to the province.

The request, said the sources, had been made to the federal authorities concerned through an official letter dispatched a couple of days back.

The province has been receiving Rs6bn annually since early 1990s as its share under the net profit on the income of hydel power generated at six hydel power stations located in NWFP chiefly Tarbela and Warsak.

Senior government functionaries rejected the impression that province had been making wrong estimations under the net hydel profit head which eventually led it to face budgetary imbalances and heavy shortfall.

“This is not the case,” said an official, adding that since Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao’s government the province had been estimating Rs6bn capped share amount every year [the amount the province has been getting since early 1990s].

The fund disbursement situation under the head of net profit appears to be much more disturbing for the province this time round after there is complete silence from the federal authorities in response to repeated requests by the provincial government seeking release of funds from Wapda.

In the latest request to the federal authorities, said the sources, the provincial government had once again asked for payment out of the capped share amount.

“Though the province has been laying claim to the share in accordance with the AGN Kazi formula to reserve its right, it has regularly been reflecting capped share amount of Rs6bn in its current revenue receipts budget every year sine 1993-94,” said the sources.

Sources apprehended that the provincial government’s cash balance — in its account number one — might experience major increase during the next few days if its latest request, too, went unnoticed on part of federal government.