PESHAWAR, Jan 1: Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has released second tranche of Rs500m to NWFP against its Rs6bn annual share of net hydel profit, according to official sources.

With the fresh disbursement of Rs500m the total amount released to the province during the current financial year rose to Rs1bn — in line with a recently made commitment by the Wapda chairman Zulfiqar Ali Khan and Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao.

The first tranche of Rs500m was released to the province over a week ago bringing an end to the row between the province and Wapda over the question of non-disbursement of net hydel profit share to the provincial government during the current financial year.

Talking to a select group of journalists at Peshawar on Tuesday, last the federal minister for water and power had announced that the second tranche of Rs500m would be released to the province during the next week.

However, the province received the amount on the same day. “The Authority released the amount to the province on Tuesday,” said a senior Wapda officer.

According to provincial government officials, the disbursement of funds would ease off the fiscal pressure the provincial kitty was going through due to non-payment of funds under the said head.

In this respect, the frequently sent official letters to Wapda by the provincial government remained unattended during the last days of the last federal government.

The disbursement of Rs1bn to the province during the last fortnight of the last month, said the sources, would help the new provincial government to avoid taking over-draft from the State Bank at least for one more month.