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NFC award in final stages: No consensus on resource distribution yet

* Provinces demand federal govt keep its share around 40 percent, Centre insists on more than 50 percent

By Razzak Abro

KARACHI: The National Finance Commission (NFC) discussed various proposals regarding the vertical resource distribution formula for the forthcoming NFC award in its meeting on Wednesday, but could not reach a consensus.

In the first session of the NFC meeting, Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen said making the provinces stronger would mean strengthening the federation.

The meeting was chaired by Tareen, while provincial finance ministers Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, Muhammad Hamayun Khan and Dr Asim Ali Kurd represented the provinces of Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan, respectively, while Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah represented Sindh.

Demands: The provinces demanded the federal government keep around 40 percent of the resources, but the federal government insisted on having more than 50 percent of the divisible pool. Punjab and NWFP governments were of the opinion that the vertical formula should be decided before discussing the factors involving the horizontal distribution of resources in the NFC award. The NFC will continue its second session today (Thursday).

Representatives of Sindh and Balochistan said the vertical formula should be 40:60, meaning that the federal government should keep 40 percent of the resources and distribute the remaining among the provinces.

However, NWFP’s representative suggested that the federal government should receive 20 percent, while Punjab’s representative proposed that the formula should be 35:65.

Tareen said the federal government wanted to provide more resources to the provinces, but for the smooth running of the federal government, its share should be more than 50 percent. The current formula for the distribution of the resources is 45:55.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Tareen said the federal government and the provinces had discussed various suggestions in the meeting, adding that the federal government was trying to strengthen the provinces. He also said the provinces would be given their rights as per the 1973 constitution.

Shah told the reporters that the provinces had told the federal government their proposals, and now it was up to them to show flexibility in their stance.

He also said the four provincial chief ministers would discuss the NFC issue and try to reach a consensus, adding that all issues would be discussed in the next NFC meeting.

Meanwhile, at a dinner hosted by Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Tareen said the NFC award was in its final stages and commission members had to strengthen the country by playing a constructive role. An unofficial meeting between Tareen and the four chief ministers is expected at a dinner, to be hosted by the Sindh chief minister, where the federal government would make an attempt to reach a consensus about the vertical and horizontal formulas for the forthcoming award.

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