Arbitration tribunal decision to remove cap on net hydel profit , KP govt asks center to implement decisions

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govt on Monday asked the federal govt to  remove cap on the net hydel profit and immediately start paying the province Rs42 billion annually on this account, as determined by an arbitration tribunal .

A demand to this effect was made in a meeting of financial team of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa here with provincial Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mian Iftikhar Hussain in the chair.

The session was arranged to discuss the province’s financial affairs after the central  government unilaterally revised the payment schedule of arrears of net hydel profit by linking the payment to availability of resources instead of yearly disbursement as promised.

Wapda was obliged to pay  Rs110 billion to the KPK  of arrears of the net hydel power generation payable from 1991-92 to the year 2005.

PM Gilani had earlier announced on Oct 31, 2009 to dispose of this liability on behalf of Wapda by making disbursement to the province in five yearly installments starting from 2009-10. The province has so far received Rs35 billion only while the remaining Rs75 billion was supposed to be transferred to the province in three installments.

Third tranche of Rs25 billion was due in July this year, however, citing financial crisis the federal government has given the province only Rs4.1 billion till date, an official privy to the meeting told.

The prime minister had also constituted a technical committee with an assigned target to come up with recommendations in one month for working out future share of the province in net hydel profit. However, not a single meeting of the technical committee has held so far.

The minister Mian Iftikhar , who is also spokesperson for KP government, argued that capping the net hydel profit at Rs6 billion annually since 1991-92 was an injustice to the province and that was why the their stance for uncapping had been acknowledged by both the arbitration tribunal and A.G.N Qazi Committee.

The tribunal in 2005  declared that KP should be given Rs25 billion annually as its share in the profit earned on the sale of hydel power generated in the province. It had also proposed that this share should be increased by 10% per annum. If calculated as per the arbitration tribunal’s award, the province’s share by 2011-12 stands at around Rs40 billion.

The minister asked the PM to fulfill  his commitments and expedite the process to uncap the net hydel profit presently set at Rs6 billion/annum.