ISLAMABAD, July 21: President General Pervez Musharraf has said that provinces will have increased autonomy and a fair distribution of resources in the new National Finance Commission (NFC) award. “The Concurrent List in the Constitution is being reviewed by parliamentarians and a solution will be found about provincial autonomy,” he said in his address to the nation on Thursday.
The president said that the government would ensure provincial harmony by removing ‘genuine grievances’ of smaller provinces. He said most of the development projects were being implemented in smaller provinces with maximum allocations.
“All chief ministers have reposed confidence in me for a judicious NFC award which will shortly be decided,” he said.
About big dams, he said had there been Kalabagh dam the NWFP would not have faced huge floods. He regretted that water from river Chitral and river Swat, that had been going waste, should have been utilized by building a bigger dam.
“But I assure you that I would solve this problem by shortly deciding about some big dams,” Gen Musharraf said, calling upon the people of Sindh and the NWFP to support him in finalizing such projects. “Both these smaller provinces will be a major beneficiary of a new dam.”
The government, he said, was spending Rs166 billion on resolving the issue of water shortage. “But without building bigger dams, we will not be able to solve this problem,” he cautioned.
Clean drinking water, the president said, should reach all people of Pakistan by 2007-08 and added that he would ensure this.
