The federal government and provinces on Saturday agreed to resolve the energy crisis amicably as the four provinces assured the Council of Common Interests (CCI) that they would speed up efforts to recover the outstanding amounts from defaulters of electricity bills.
In a meeting of the CCI, the provinces also said law enforcement agencies would ensure to cut line losses, adding that they would assist the federation to meet the circular debt by making outstanding payments to the Ministry of Water and Power ahead of Eidul Fitr.
The CCI meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani.
A CCI source told Pakistan Today that Shahbaz and Hoti made most of the arguments on behalf of the provinces while Raisani and Shah remained brief. However, he said Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh won the arguments and prevailed upon the meeting, making the four chief ministers change their minds whenever a difference of opinion arose.
“Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was chairing the CCI moot, urged the provinces to help the federation resolve the circular debt issue by making early payments and minimise load shedding before Eid. He also urged the provinces to bring froth their respective energy projects for early convening of the energy conference soon after Eid,” said the source.
The source said Raisani assured the meeting that his government would pay the outstanding amount at the earliest. “Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah also assured the meeting that the payments would be made as soon as possible. Upon this, Water and Power Minister Naveed Qamar requested the provinces to make payments before Eid so that maximum electricity could be produced,” the source added. The source said another important decision made was about citizen compensation package for the flood-affected people.
“The meeting was informed that each affected person had to be paid another Rs 80,000 which needed to be paid by the federal government and provincial governments equally. However, the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief ministers refused, saying that the provinces were not in a position to pay their shares.”
“Upon this, the finance minister said after the 18th Amendment, provinces had gotten more share and the federation was not in a position to make all the payments. Finally, he was able to convince the provinces to make half the payment,” the source said.
The source said another important decision unanimously taken was about the privatisation of public entities. “KP had argued that the privatisation commission should also hear the viewpoint of the provinces concerned. Punjab said it should be made a permanent member of the privatisation commission besides the CCOP,” the source said.
However, the source said Shaikh rejected Shahbaz’s argument, saying that a single province could not be made a member and a uniformed decision would be made. He also asked all the provinces to make their recommendations over the proposals and submit it well before the next meeting so the federal government could deliberate upon all proposals. All the provinces agreed to the proposal, the source said.
The meeting also decided on the sharing of foreign grants and soft loans.
“The meeting decided that the federation and the provinces will get equal share of foreign grants while it was also agreed that the federal government will contribute 75 percent to the repayment of the soft loans while the remaining 25 percent will be paid by the provinces,” the source said.
