LAHORE, Dec 13: All the four provinces on Saturday jointly demanded of the federal government to increase their share from the divisible pool at least up to 50 per cent from the present 37.5 per cent as the provincial governments were financing resource-consuming sectors of education, health, law and order and construction.

The demand was put up in a meeting of the National Finance Commission (NFC) held here with federal finance minister Shaukat Aziz in the chair. Finance ministers of all the four provinces and other members attended the meeting.

The provinces told the Centre to first announce their collective share in the divisible pool so that they could later devise a formula for distributing it among themselves, NWFP finance minister told this reporter after a briefing for newsmen by Mr Aziz.

He said the federal government had been asked to identify its needs and requirements along with provinces for ensuring a just distribution of resources among the federation and its four units.

The Centre was exhorted to downsize its ministries to cut its expenses and pass on the money so saved to the federating units, he added.

Earlier, Shaukat Aziz told a joint press conference that the four-hour deliberations had been held in a congenial atmosphere raising hopes that the target of finalizing the NFC award by March 31 would be achieved.

To achieve the goal, the frequency of the award meetings was also being increased as next deliberations would be held in Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar respectively after a break of two to three weeks each, he added.

He said the provinces had been asked to justify their financial needs and requirements for the next five years with facts and figures before the next NFC meeting to be held in Islamabad on Jan 2, 2004.

About the gas development surcharge (GDS) issue, he said both Sindh and Balochistan provinces had decided to settle it in bilateral talks before the next NFC meeting.

On the net hydel profit row between the NWFP and Wapda, he said though it was not part of the NFC award, the federal government had decided to resolve this issue too by March 31.

For the purpose, Mr Aziz said, a committee comprising representatives of the NWFP, Wapda, water and power ministry and the federal government would meet soon to settle the dispute.

About delay in the NFC award, the federal finance minister said the army government was of the opinion that a representative political set-up should decide this important financial matter.

Replying to a question, Sindh finance minister Syed Ehsan Shah said that Friday’s meeting had been held to remove reservations among the four provinces.