KARACHI: The Sindh government on Tuesday said its representative had urged the federal government authorities in a meeting that unless the Council of Common Interests (CCI) submitted a policy to implement Article 158 of the Constitution, sanction of gas to any special economic zone (SEZ) other than Khairpur was ‘illegal’ and ‘unjustified’.

A spokesperson in the Sindh government said Sindh Board of Investment chairperson Naheed Me­­mon held a meeting with the Sui Southern Gas Com­p­any’s chairman in Isla­m­a­bad in which she handed a message of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah for the ministry of petroleum and natural resources.

In the meeting, said the provincial government, they discussed the issues of “provision of electricity and gas connections to the notified SEZs”.

“Naheed Memon told the federal authorities that the Sindh government considered it as a grave miscarriage of justice on account of (their denial on) allocation of gas to the province of Sindh,” said a statement issued by the CM House.

Conveying the message of the CM, the SBI chief said it was appalling that the ministry of petroleum was considering rolling back the 18th Amendment “so that it can control the gas supplies and give priority to Punjab and the federal capital.” She said the allocation of gas to any SEZ outside Sindh would not be accepted.

“The ministry of petroleum and natural resour­ces should not entertain any gas connection request until the gas is provided to the country’s first SEZ, which has been established at Khairpur.”

Officials in the Sindh government said the first three SEZs of the country were located in Sindh, but the relevant federal autho­rities had not approved of gas supply to either of them.

“Sorry to say all of them await gas allocation,” said Ms Memon.

“Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s message is very clear,” said a government official.

“He says unless the CCI submits a policy to implement Article 158, any sanction of gas by the federal government to any other SEZ is illegal and unfair.

“The federal government is also violating Article 154, which makes it mandatory upon the federal government to provide gas and electricity to SEZs. The three SEZs in Sindh had been notified in 2014 [still] await provision of gas.” He said Article 158 vis-a-vis the priority of requirements of natural gas explicitly said the province in which a well head of natural gas was situated should have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from that well head, subject to the commitments and obligations as on the commencing day.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2017