CCI forms another panel over hydel profit issue.

Byline: Manzoor Ali

PESHAWAR -- The Council of Common Interests has formed another committee to resolve the issue of the payment of net hydel profit (NHP) to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab in line with the AGN Kazi formula, sources said.

The development came during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by all provincial chief ministers in Islamabad on Monday.

Officials claimed that the report of a committee that was headed by Planning Commission deputy chairman Jehanzeb Khan and favoured KP's claim for NHP dues was discussed during the CCI meeting.

The report declared, 'the issue of practicality of [Kazi methodology] implementation, though raised by some members of the committee, cannot override the constitutional dictates.'

The officials said the Jehanzeb Khan-led committee took 18 months to make recommendations on the payment issue but the CCI preferred to form a new panel on it.

KP officials insist centre deliberately delaying payments

They claimed that the federal government was deliberately delaying the hydel profit payments to the provinces, especially KP.

The officials said the CCI directed the committee to come up with an out-of-box solution of the matter under the AGN Kazi formula, which amounted to the reviewing of that formula, a violation of the CCI's mandate and the provision of the Constitution.

Adviser to the chief minister on energy and power Himayatullah Khan told Dawn that the proposed committee was not meant to reopen the award and instead, it was formed to determine from where the money to pay the provinces' NHP claims would come.

He said the formation of a new committee had delayed the resolution of the issue.

The minister said it was a five decades old issue, so it would be too simplistic to think that sacks filled with money would be coming to province after a couple of meetings.

He said the out-of-box solution was in reference to identify the sources of payments to the provinces.

'This committee will deliberate on how to get the money to pay KP,' he said, adding that one way of doing it is to burden consumers and the other is to overcome the system's inefficiencies and control waste of power.

However, the sources said federal minister for power Omar Ayub Khan opposed KP's contention claiming there was no money in the power sector.

He said following discussions, the forum decided...