February 02, 2007	Friday	Muharram 13, 1428

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QUETTA, Feb 1: National Party leader and Member of the Balochistan Assembly Mir Jan Mohammad Buledi has submitted an adjournment motion in the assembly secretariat, asking the government to make public an agreement made with a Chilean company regarding Reko Dik copper and gold project and take the assembly into confidence.

Mr Buledi said the government had claimed that the Chilean company would give Balochistan a 25 per cent share of its income from the world's third biggest copper and gold reserves and that the provincial government would not make any investment in the project.

However, according to a senior official of the Chilean company who visited Balochistan after the visit of Chief Minister Jam Yousuf and other officials to Chile last month, the Balochistan government would invest 25 per cent of the cost of the project, said Mr Buledi, adding that the Chilean company would then pay 25 per cent share to Balochistan from the net income of the project.

This investment by the government was a big injustice with the people of the province, he said.

He also claimed that the royalty of the project had also been reduced from 4 per cent to 2 per cent. He also criticised the provincial government decision to provide land to the Chilean company free of cast for construction of road from Reko Dik to Gwadar port and an airport in the area. He claimed that the chief secretary and the chairman of Balochistan Development Authority had asked the Planning and Development Department to prepare PC-1 of the two projects.

The National Party leader said that he would raise the issue in the coming session of the Balochistan Assembly.