PESHAWAR, Sept 9: Water and Power Development Authority has released second tranche of Rs500m to NWFP government against province’s share of net hydel profit for the 2003-04 financial year, according to official sources.
With the release of the fresh tranche in the last week, the total amount received by the provincial government during the current financial year under this account rose to Rs1bn.
Though the provincial government in its budget estimates for the current financial year has projected likely income from the proceeds of net hydel profit at Rs17.653 bn, it is not likely to get any thing beyond an amount of Rs6bn — the capped share amount the province has been receiving annually for the last over 10 years.
The new financial year brought a positive change for the province after Wapda started regular payments to the provincial government against NWFP’s net hydel profit share.
The province received Rs1bn amount in two equal instalments of Rs500m in a span of less than one month — something which was not in practice even when the military-backed civil government in the province remained at the helm of affairs for three years.
Ever since army was inducted to Wapda over five years back, releases to NWFP on account of net hydel profit (NHP) share got erratic.
“Before army’s induction, Wapda was used to release NHP funds to NWFP on monthly-basis,” said an officer, adding that “after armymen took over the organization the province experienced irregular payments though it never missed the benchmark of Rs6bn capped share amount”.
In the 2002-03 financial year, NWFP received over Rs4bn NHP share during the last two months of the financial year.
Whereas, in the 2001-02 financial year, the province received about Rs4.5bn on account of NHP share — out of a total annual capped amount share of Rs6bn — two or three days before the fiscal year ended on June 30, 2002.
“This is after a long time that the province received Rs1bn during the first quarter of the financial year,” appreciated a senior government functionary.
Officials told Dawn that prime minister Mir Zafar Ullah Jamali and federal minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao played a major role in making it possible for the province to get timely releases of NHP from Wapda.
However, the sources rejected the chief minister Akram Khan Durrani’s claim on floor of the provincial assembly on Monday, last, that the province had received Rs1.5bn NHP so far during the current financial year.
“The province has received a total of Rs1bn not beyond that,” said a high ranking officer.