KOHAT, May 22: NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq has said that the finance ministers of three provinces will meet on May 27 to work out a solution to the issue of distribution of resources based on the formula mentioned in the 1973 constitution. They would meet under a special NFC award committee headed by Mian Ajmal, he told Dawn here on Sunday.

The senior minister regretted that due to the wrong policies of the past rulers, the government faced a deadlock every year because of the billions of rupees arrears payable to the provinces.

Had the previous governments been paying the due share of the provinces since 1973 regularly, the problem would have not been so complicated. Drawing a comparison, he said it was the sixth NFC award in Pakistan whereas India had already disbursed the 12th award, although both the countries had got independence at the same time.

He praised President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for their willingness to solve the issue. Mr Siraj, who also holds the portfolio of finance, expressed the hope that the federal government would release the Rs2 billion promised by former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, from the NWFPs net hydel profit share made last year.

He said that at present, the centre had agreed to pay 50 per cent share to the provinces through which the NWFP would get 13 billion extra as compared to last year. This would enable the provincial government to enhance the share of development expenditure from last year’s Rs16bn to Rs22 billion.

Repeating NWFPs claim on Rs345 billion from the net hydel profit, he explained that they had calculated the sum after adding 15 per cent interest on the province’s share which was due since 1973.