Briefing reporters on the occasion of the launch of the report on the energy sector that envisaged a huge decline in economic growth in the province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) President Afan Aziz said the chamber would attend the Awami National Party-convened All Parties Conference being held on the enrgy crisis today and propose to the provincial government to take charge of its indigenous resources.

“Though the province is contributing over Rs175 billion to tthe federal pool every year, it is subjected to long hours of loadshedding. It is receiving only 38 paisas per unit as net hydel profit totalling Rs 6 billion,” he maintained.

Regarding the provincial government’s Action Plan envisaging 24 hydropower generation projects with total generation capacity of 2,100 mw, the KPCCI chief said these projects would not pay the province as it had no mechanism to utilise the power it produces locally. “The Wapda is the sole buyer of the hydel power and the province could not sell the power it produces to any other sector,” he said.

Afan Aziz said the industry was willing to buy the power generated by Pehur Hydel Power Project, Malakand-III and other projects at the rate of Rs 7 per unit which the government was selling at Rs6 per unit to the Wapda.

Flanked by the chamber’s vice-president, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, former presidents, Riaz Arshad and Usman Bilour, and members of executive committee, Afan Aziz said the province should be given its due share in its indigenous resources.

He said Khyber Pakhtun-khwa was the net exporter of gas and hydropower resources but it had no decisive control to take advantage of its indigenous resources.

Afan Aziz said the 18th Amendment had given the provinces the right over their resources but the highly centralised regulatory framework at the federal level had so far perpetuated its direct and indirect control on production, pricing and distribution of the electricity and gas resources.

He said he would suggest to the government to take control of the production and distribution of the power and gas resources so that the province could take ample benefit of its resources.

The KPCCI chief disclosed that the file seeking permission for the import of LNG had been submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee and soon the LNG quota would be imposed on the province. “It will also lead to the review of the prices and provincial gas distribution,” he pointed out.

He said the plan would also lead to increase in the prices of gas and business community would resist any such plan.

Afan Aziz said that owing to the energy and security crisis about 70 to 80 percent of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa industries had either shifted to other provinces or abroad while most of units have been closed down.

According to the report, the province had net consumption of gas domestic, commercial, general industries transports CNG, remains 60, seven, 35 and 49 MMCFD, respectively, during 2011-12. Of the total gas consumption of 3,400, the Punjab consumed 1,807 MMCFD, Sindh 1,200 MMCFD, Balochistan 242 MMCFD, and KP mere 151 MMCFD during the period.

The data showed that Sindh produced 2,849 MMCFD with 67.3 percent share, followed by KP 369 MMCFD with 8.7 percent, Punjab 205 MMCFD with 4.8 percent, and Balochistan 813 MMCFD with 19.2 percent share of the total production of the country during this period.

A volume of 924MMCFD of natural gas was consumed for power generation during 2010-11, whereas an accumulated total of 1, 432,014 MCFT was used for power generation during 2004-12, the document said. The figures revealed that the industrial power, gas and electricity consumption increased from 1,508 to 2,527 MMCFD during last a decade.

Comparing the energy consumption with rest of the country, the document said that total electricity consumption of KP has remained at 2,184 with mere 33 percent growth rate, whereas Punjab has significantly increased growth at 20,605 consumption, followed by Balochistan 2,226 with share of 122 percent growth, Sindh 5,672 with growth ratio of 56 percent, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with marginal growth of 825 during the 2010-11.

The per capital electricity consumption of the country worked out at 435 kilowatt based on previous consumption of 2010-11, the document said. According to province wise data, the total capita electricity consumption stands at 435 per kilowatt out of which Punjab had 439 kw, Balochistan 446 kw, Sindh 376 kw, KP 367 kw, and FATA 196 kw.