September 19, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 18, 1429

PESHAWAR, Sept 18: The federal government has agreed to settle out of court a dispute about payment of Rs110 billion net hydel profit to the NWFP by the Water and Power Development Authority.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said in a statement that the agreement was reached at a meeting of a team of the NWFP government with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad on Thursday.

Mr Hussain said that the team briefed the prime minister on the position of the NWFP government on the issue and asked him to play a role to settle the dispute.

He said that the federal and provincial governments would constitute a committee of technical experts to find a solution to the issue within two months in accordance with the decision of an arbitration tribunal formed by the federal government in 2005.

The tribunal, headed by the then chief justice of Pakistan Ajmal Mian, had asked Wapda to pay Rs110 billion to the NWFP in five annual instalments as arrears of net hydel profit since 1991.

The federal government was guarantor of the process, but Wapda challenged the arbitration award in a civil court of Islamabad.

The NWFP government also filed a writ petition which is still pending with the Supreme Court.

About de-capping the annual proceeds from the net hydel profit, the provincial information minister said the prime minister had assigned the same task to the proposed committee. Wapda had capped the annual transfers to the NWFP government at Rs6 billion since 1991.

He said Mr Gilani was also informed about disparities in power tariffs. “The prime minister was told that the NWFP generated hydel power but its tariff was higher than in other provinces.”

The prime minister assured the jirga that a uniform power tariff would be introduced across the country, he added.