New Reko Diq project to ensure Pakistan’s 50pc profit, SC told

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the new Reko Diq Project would ensure Pakistan’s 50 per cent profit.

A five-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsen, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokel heard a presidential reference regarding the new Reko Diq Project.

Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman, while arguing on questions raised in the presidential reference, submitted that Pakistan would get 50 per cent profit under the new project, adding that in a previous agreement, the opinion of experts and authorities concerned was not taken. But this time, the government had constituted committees under the leadership of the prime minister the Finance minister to make the new agreement feasible. He argued that the court, in its judgment that declared the previous project illegal, had held that it was not made in a transparent manner as relevant rules were relaxed illegally.

He submitted that this time, a proper approval was taken from both the federal government and the Balochistan government for the new project. He said that after the apex court declared the previous agreement illegal, the Tethyan Copper Company approached the International Arbitration Tribunal of the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which issued an award of $6.4 billion dollars in damages to the company in relation to arbitration claims filed against the government of Pakistan for denial of mining lease for the Reko Diq Project.

Justice Bandial observed that as per documents, Pakistan would have to face interest of Rs 0.7 lakh per day upon failure in payment of fine imposed by the International Arbitration Tribunal. The AAG submitted that the new agreement would ensure 50 per cent profit to Pakistan.

Justice Muneeb Akhtar told the AAG that the Mineral Act was a federal law, then how the provincial government could amend it. The law officer replied that as per a 2013 judgment of the supreme court, the Balochistan Development Authority was not competent to make an international agreement. He submitted that the previous Reko Diq agreement was not made in a proper way that’s why the apex court had set aside the agreement for being unlawful. Later, the court adjourned the hearing till today (Wednesday).