PESHAWAR, Feb 20: The National Finance Commission membrers of the four provinces failed to agree in their two sessions of informal meeting held here on Friday to work out a new formula for distribution of resources among the federating units from the federal divisible pool.

Some NFC members said they could not find an amicable answer to the difficult question as to what should be the determiants and how much weight should be given to each of the indicators - once decided - for the distribution of resources in the new NFC award.

"They stand poles apart and are not ready to change their stated positions regarding resource distribution criteria," said an official privy to the informal meeting held at the NWFP government's Civil Secretariat here.

After failing to hammer out an agreement over the multiple indicator issue, finance ministers and non-statutory members of the four provinces decided to meet again on Saturday morning ahead of the NFC's scheduled meeting, an NFC member said.

"There are difficulties which need to be overcome to arrive at an NFC award acceptable to all the parties concerned." Sources said that the meeting, scheduled for 9am on Saturday, would delay the commencement of the NFC meeting which was earlier scheduled to start at 9:30am.

The commission, which would be holding the fifth of a series of NFC meetings, would also hold a general discussion on different aspects of the next award, especially regarding the province's cumulative share in the federal divisible pool.

Federal secretary petroleum Abdullah Yousuf would present a report on the issue of gas development surcharge involving Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh as stakeholders.

The outcome of the informal meeting, sources said, would be taken to the NFC meeting for formal discussion on resource distribution between the federating units. Once the thorny issue, said a source, was settled the NFC would take up its next task of determining the resource distribution formula.

"The question of giving 50 per cent resources or less than that from the federal divisible pool to provinces would be taken up for a final decision once provinces develop a consensus viz-a- viz the crucial issue of multiple indicators," an official said.

The subject, said a source, was already on the NFC meeting's agenda and representatives of all provinces would explain their respective position on the same. "We are moving forward and hopefully would be able to formulate an award acceptable to all," Dr Gulfaraz, Balochistan's non-statutory member, told Dawn.

Expressing optimism regarding the progress made in connection with the NFC, he said it was likely that the commission would be able to give the next award by March 31 - the cutoff date for finalizing the next NFC award.

Similar views were expressed by NWFP's finance minister Sirajul Haq and Punjab's finance minister Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak. However, all finance ministers appeared to evade questions about differences hampering the development of a consensus over the multiple indicator issue.

Some of the members were of the view that issue as crucial as multiple indictors could not be decided in a single meeting. "It is beyond the provinces' capability to develop a consensus and give up their position to accommodate each other," said a minister.

However, Mir Abdur Rehman Jamali, Balochistan's minister for services and general administration, said that Balochistan deserved more allocation.

"Punjab has already attained a point of saturation with its urban areas getting overcrowded, hence, we need to develop Balochistan to take benefit of its natural resources and locational advantage side by side allocating sufficient resources to help other provinces meet their expenditure requirements," said Mr Jamali, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali.

Representatives of Punjab and NWFP, sources said, had an identical stand so far as considering poverty besides considering a province's population as determinants for resource distribution.

However, they differed over what weightage to give to which indicator. Sindh, said the sources, did not budge from its stated position that a province's revenue effort should be considered regarding resource distribution.

However, none of the other provinces, sources said, supported Sindh's stand, observing that it would widen the urban-rural divide besides lending a negative impact on the NWFP and Balochistan.

"The NFC members, other than Sindh, noted that like provinces, districts generating more revenue, too, would get the benefit sharpening urban-rural disparities," said an official source.

Balochistan's members, source said, insisted that the size of a province should also be given due consideration with poverty and population being the other two determinants.

Sources said that Balochistan's members asked that out of the total funds to be distributed among the federating units from the federal divisible pool every year, 10 per cent should be distributed on the basis of a province's size.

No other province, said the sources, agreed with their notion as the same would negatively impact the NWFP and Punjab. Members from the NWFP were of the view that one per cent of the resources should be distributed on the basis of the size. Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived here on Friday evening to preside over the fifth meeting of the NFC on Saturday.