October 19, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 19, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 18: The Standing Committee of NWFP Assembly on Finance Department on Saturday asked the federal government to take decision for ensuring payment of the outstanding dues to NWFP so far involved in the hydel net sector with Wapda.

The committee also regretted that in spite of hectic efforts of the provincial government the Wapda was not ready to pay the dues and recommended that the issue should be tackled on priority basis.

A meeting of the Standing Committee No. 10 on Finance Department was held under the chairmanship of MPA Attiqur Rahman at the Committee Room of the NWFP Assembly in which ways and means were discussed regarding the net hydel profit issue and the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

NWFP Minister for Finance Engineer Mohammad Humayun Khan, MPAs Hidaytullah Khan Gandapur, Mehmood Alam, Syed Qalb-e-Hassan, Raja Faisal Zaman, Yasmin Nazli Jaseem, Tabassum Shams, Hafiz Akhtar Ali, Special Secretary Finance Zainullah Khan and other officers of the NWFP Assembly and Finance department attended the meeting.

During the meeting the committee members were briefed in detail on the long-standing issue of net hydel profit with the Wapda and its impacts on the provincial economy. The chairman of the committee MPA Attiqur Rahman asked for detailed reasons as to why the Wapda was reluctant to pay the dues to the NWFP despite decisions of the Arbitration tribunal whereas the province was going towards worst kind of financial problems.

Finance Minister Engineer Humayun Khan assured the committee that they had initiated high-level meetings with the federal government in this regard and expressed the hope that the issue would be solved very soon.

The committee was also briefed on the NFC award and the fresh efforts in this direction. The committee finalised its recommendations and decisions in this connection and urged the finance officers to work out solid strategy for getting the problems solved with Wapda.

The committee members also pledged to tack up the issue in the high forum and enable the province to get its due share in the hydel sector, which they said was the main income-generating asset of the Frontier province.