Whoever comes into power in Sarhad has asked for the simplest thing from the federal government. The money guaranteed them by the federal government from the beginning.
Rahimullah Yusufzai
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PESHAWAR: In a desperate move, the NWFP government has asked the top MMA leaders to hold a meeting with prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali to seek his help for payment of net profits from hydel-generation by Wapda to the Frontier under the A G N Kazi formula.
Talking to reporters and columnists here Saturday, the NWFP senior minister Sirajul Haq said the prime minister would also be requested to ensure that the new National Finance Commission (NFC) award is given as soon as possible. “We have asked MMA leaders Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Maulana Samiul Haq to form a delegation comprising all parliamentarians from the NWFP including Aftab Sherpao, Asfandyar Wali Khan and Farhatullah Babar to meet the prime minister. We requested them not to raise LFO and other issues in this meeting in which the one item on the agenda should be our share in hydel net profits and NFC award,” he explained.
Flanked by additional chief secretary Jehangir Bashr and secretary finance Ziaur Rahman, Sirajul Haq argued that the NFC award should have come before the federal budget as demanded by the NWFP and other provincial governments. “The NWFP Assembly unanimously protested the delay in the NFC award and walkout was also staged. I have spoken to finance ministers of other provinces and all are keen to get down to business and resolve contentious issues concerning the NFC award,” he said.
Sirajul Haq, who is also finance and planning minister, maintained that the federal government being the guarantor should ensure that the NWFP is paid Rs 17 billion annually as its constitutional share from net profits from hydel-generation projects located in the province. He said Wapda should also start paying in installments the Rs 300 billion that it owed to the Frontier as arrears. “We don’t want confrontation with the federal government. We should resolve our problems like brothers as all of us aim at providing relief to the people. Governments of different political parties in the Centre and provinces can co-exist if there was sincerity of purpose,” he contended.
Explaining the issue of hydel net profits further, finance secretary Ziaur Rahman said NWFP’s annual share should be Rs 25 billion under the A G N Kazi formula. “Wapda doesn’t include the surcharges consumers have to pay on electricity bills while calculating its profits and NWFP’s share. Under the Kazi formula, whatever the consumer pays should be part of the hydel profits. The Supreme Court too gave its verdict in favour of this formula,” he argued.
The finance secretary reminded that hydel net profits in past NWFP budgets were always pitched at more than Rs 6 billion that is paid annually by Wapda to the province. “The share of hydel net profits was Rs 15.9 billion in last year’s budget. It has been calculated at Rs 17 billion this year keeping in view the 11 per cent annual increase allowed by the NFC award,” he explained. He added that the NWFP had received Rs 3.5 billion from Wapda todate out of its annual net profits share of Rs 6 billion. “According to Wapda, the NWFP has been paid Rs 4.5 billion because it has deducted Rs one billion at source in lieu of unpaid electricity bills by provincial government departments. We don’t accept this contention and are, therefore, demanding another Rs 2.5 billion towards payment of our share of Rs 6 billion. We hope the payment would be made by June 30,” he said.
Both the finance minister and secretary said the NWFP had deposited its claim of Rs 300 billion with the federal government and Wapda towards payment of arrears of hydel net profits. “The NWFP would even be able to lend money once it receives these arrears. We could accomplish a lot for uplift of our province with this money,” minister Sirajul Haq thought.