July 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 25, 1429

PESHAWAR, July 28: The NWFP government wants out of court settlement of the longstanding dispute of Rs110 billion arrears, which Wapda owes the province as royalty on hydel power generation.

NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti approached Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and asking him to dispose of the longstanding dispute, Provincial Finance Minister Engineer Hamayun Khan told Dawn.

An arbitration tribunal headed by former Chief Justice of Pakistan Ajmal Mian in 2006 had issued a verdict, directing Wapda to pay NWFP government Rs110 billion in five yearly installments as arrears of hydel power generation.

Public utility had been paying the NWFP royalty at capped Rs6 billion annually against the hydel generation from power complexes locating in the province since 1991.

The arbitration tribunal had also un-capped the yearly royalty, as the province was supposed to get Rs28.93 billion in financial year 2006-07, whereas a 10 per cent incremental increase to this effect on yearly basis was also part of the judgment.

The federal government was guarantor to the arbitration tribunal, but even than the public utility refused to accept the decision and challenged it in a civil court of Islamabad. In retaliation, the Frontier government moved Supreme Court against Wapda, where the case is still pending.

Mr Khan said that the provincial government wanted to resolve the issue as soon as possible because it would change the lives of poor of the province.

“Apart from chief minister, I have also talked to the prime minister and pursued him for immediate resolution of the dispute,” said the minister, a member of the ruling PPP.

He hoped that the issue would be resolved soon. He, however, conceded there was nothing in writing available to this effect.

An official at Finance Department said that resolution of the longstanding dispute could give a boost to the provincial economy, which was heavily relying on external resources.In last financial year, the provincial government had suffered a revenue shortfall of over Rs7.44 billion that affected financial management particularly it reduced fiscal space, which could be utilised for the public welfare.

The former MMA government had devised a strategy for the utilisation of funds, which the province was supposed to get from Wapda against net hydel profit arrears.

Establishment of an irrigation system to feed the barren lands at southern districts of the province was one of the main components of that strategy, the official added.