ISLAMABAD: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will approach the Supreme Court over non-payment of net hydel profit (NHP) and share of erstwhile Federally Adminis­tered Tribal Areas (Fata) from the federal budget.

Addressing a press conference at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, KP Finance Minister Taimur Jhagra, along with Special Assistant on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, held the federal government responsible for withholding the province’s share to bring it on the verge of default.

“We don’t want to use the option to approach the superior court in the first place,” Mr Jhagra said, adding that paying dues was a constitutional obligation for the centre.

He said a special meeting of the KP cabinet will be convened early next week to discuss all options including approaching the SC.

KP finance minister says option to approach apex court on the cards; claims that no NHP has been paid since April

Mr Jhagra added that from January 2021 to April 2022, the province received Rs63 billion under the NHP payments and arrears and not a single penny has been paid since then, taking the arrears to almost Rs60bn.

The non-payment of NHP has created a huge financial crisis for the province, the minister said.

Net hydel profit is the money paid by the centre to respective regions for the electricity produced from hydropower stations within their areas.

Mr Jhagra added that the centre also has to pay Rs30bn for the newly merged districts (NMDs). “We need immediately Rs90bn to overcome our financial woes.”

He further said that the province received only Rs8bn out of Rs17bn for the development projects in the tribal areas and the KP government was paying from to continue Sehat Card programme in tribal areas.

“We are not seeking any favour from the federal government”, he said, adding that these payments were their due right.

He remarked that the province’s revenue will reach between Rs75bn and Rs85bn this year and the government wants to further increase it.

Mr Jhagra said his government had requested the federal government to review the targets agreed upon with the IMF but their concerns were linked with anti-state activities.

Now, the federal government itself is considering the same thing in the wake of devastation caused by floods, he said.

The minister said KP has estimated damages to be around Rs125bn and the government will spare Rs50bn to Rs60bn this year for repair and rehabilitation.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2022