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NWFP refuses to compensate WAPDA

By Khalid Mustafa

ISLAMABAD: North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has refused to compensate the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in case the Arbitration Tribunal decides that the net hydroelectric profit (NHP) for NWFP from 1991 onwards stands at Rs 5 billion and not at the existing Rs 6 billion.

In a meeting on the terms of references of the Arbitration Tribunal on Saturday, an NWFP representative refused to give WAPDA the extra sum in case the tribunal decided that NHP for NWFP from 1991 onwards stood at Rs 5 billion. He said the province had been demanding an increase in NHP and there was no question of paying WAPDA even if NHP was reduced.

Officials of the Law and Justice Ministry, Finance Division, WAPDA chairman and other WAPDA officials attended the meeting. Ashfaq Mehmood, Water and Power secretary, chaired the meeting. WAPDA wants NHP to be calculated after a deduction of taxes and duties, but NWFP wants NHP calculated as the difference between the cost of generation and the cost of selling from Tarbela Dam. The Arbitration Tribunal will finalise the method to calculate NHP, which will determine NWFP’s future royalty. NHP for NWFP will increase to Rs 15 billion if the tribunal adopts the province’s royalty method.

The meeting also decided that both parties would be bound to comply with the tribunal’s decision and the government would support the decision, the NWFP representative said, adding that both parties also agreed to the basic principle of AGN Qazi’s formula, but differed on how to calculate NHP.

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