PESHAWAR: Frontier to approach centre for net hydel profit
PESHAWAR, Dec 13: The NWFP has decided to use official channels for an early positive response from the federal government to the issue of the payment of the province’s share in net hydroelectric profit.
The decision was taken at a meeting held here on Wednesday with Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani in the chair.
The federal government is the guarantor for implementation of the verdict of the arbitration commission in this regard.
The meeting debated the mechanism for implementation of the decision and the correspondence made with the Water and Power Development Authority on the issue.
The chief minister congratulated the officials representing the province for getting the complicated issues settled and said his government had proved its sincerity in its struggle for the rights of the province.
He said the share in the profit was a right of the people of the province.
The chief minister said he had talked to the president and the prime minister about the decision of the arbitration commission.
He said the verdict of the commission was binding on both the parties and delay in delivering justice would create a feeling of deprivation.
Under the verdict, the federal government has to ensure that Wapda pays to the NWFP Rs110 billion in five quarterly instalments of Rs22 billion each.
The chief minister said delay in the payment was unjustified and the provincial government was studying its options.
He said that once the province received its dues under the commission’s decision, it would have the resources to construct more hyropower stations under Article 157 of the Constitution.
It would enable the province to exploit its resources for industrialisation and commercial activities that would generate jobs and lead to economic development and prosperity of the NWFP, he pointed out.
He said delay in the implementation of the decision would stop the process of development.
He said that if Wapda defaulted on making payment to the province in accordance with the decision of the commission, the federal government, being the sovereign guarantor, would arrange the payment.
The meeting was attended by lawyer Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Barrister Zahid, Chief Secretary Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi, the provincial secretaries for finance and law and other officials.
Some participants quoted the World Bank’s observation that when the profit issue was settled earlier at Rs6 billion, its value had dropped to Rs2 billion because of high inflation.
The chief minister expressed the hope that there would be progress on provincial autonomy and the province would get its share.
He warned that otherwise there would be no option for him but to stage a protest in Islamabad along with all the elected representatives of the province in the Senate and the national and provincial assemblies and its district governments.—PPI
