NWFP, Wapda yet to sort out differences: Row over arbitration
By Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Dec 22: The NWFP government and Wapda have so far been unable to resolve their differences over terms and conditions of an agreement to enter into arbitration on the net hydel profit issue.
The provincial government's year-long efforts to enter into arbitration with Wapda have yet to bring desired results despite holding several rounds of talks, official sources told Dawn.
In line with a federal government-sponsored decision, Wapda and the NWFP government, some five months back, had agreed to resolve their differences over the net hydel profit issue through arbitration.
The two sides had held several meetings and exchanged numerous memos during the past five months to evolve a consensus over terms and conditions of arbitration before formally entering into the process, the sources said.
However, Wapda and the provincial government, so far, had not been able to sign an agreement to pave the way for formally commencing the process, the sources added. "Arbitration cannot commence unless the two sides sign an agreement to formally enter into the process," said an official.
Procedural delays and non-resolution of differences over a draft agreement have apparently frustrated the NWFP government, which wants quick results from its efforts after making the Centre agree to its demand of seeking arbitration on its multi-billion rupees claim against Wapda on account of net hydel profit.
The province has a claim of over Rs440 billion arrears under the head of net hydel profit against Wapda - a stand which the authority does not acknowledge. The successive provincial governments have been of the opinion that Wapda owes the province multi-billion rupee arrears in accordance with its constitutional right that guarantees payment of net profit against the sale proceeds of hydro-power produced by power generation units set up in the province.
The provincial government, said the sources, was expecting that the process would commence in November 2004. However, that did not happen and arbitration was not in sight even in the near future.
"The two sides are still to remove complications and resolve differences to enter into a formal agreement," said an official. Though the two sides agreed on several of the disputed issues during the course of their negotiations, there were still issues which needed to be resolved to facilitate signing of the agreement, the sources added.
Some of the officials, however, believe the two sides are close to evolve a consensus over terms and conditions of the agreement, which is likely to be signed in the near future.
These officials are of the view that one more crucial round of talks between the two sides will shortly take place to finalize the draft agreement. "A meeting between the two sides is expected in the near future after which every thing would be clear," they said.
Senior officials, when contacted, claimed that the provincial government gave various concessions to Wapda in an effort to finalize the agreement but the power authority was blocking the commencement of the arbitration.
The two sides had long ago nominated two representatives each for the panel of arbitrators. Similarly, over a month back they also proposed the names for the post of chief arbitrator. "The decision to appoint chief arbitrator would be taken by the two parties once the agreement is signed," said the official.
