ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Tuesday directed Wapda to provide accurate details of payments made to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as Net Hydel Profit (NHP), after member Nepra from the province contested the authority’s claim that it has paid Rs70 billion to the province.
When an official from Wapda informed the Senate standing committee on water resources that it has paid Rs70 billion to KP out of its total share of Rs91.82 billion NHP, the Nepra from KP Bahadur Shah contested the claim, saying the figures provided by Wapda is too much exaggerated. It was informed that Wapda still owes Rs70 billion to the province. Mr. Shah, who is also Vice Chairman Nepra, said that the regulator had allowed the adjustment of Rs21.82 billion of NHP amount in the electricity tariff of 2017-18.
The committee met here with Senator Shamim Afridi in the chair. Official of the Wapda said that earlier the share of the KP was Rs6 billion which was increased to Rs18 billion after the upward revision of the royalty rates. The official said that Centre Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) owes Rs200 billion to Wapda. However, the committee said that the KP royalty has nothing to do with the Wapda’s outstanding dues and asked Wapda to furnish the committee with authentic figures regarding the remaining amount to be paid to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The committee, while discussing the Naulong Dam Project in Balochistan, was informed that the PC-I of the project has been submitted to the Planning Commission which had sent set of questions to the provincial government regarding the command area development. It was informed that 80 percent of the funding for the dam would be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) while the remaining will be provided by the federal government.
However, it was revealed that the process of ADB funding could not proceed for want of concurrence from government of Balochistan regarding implementation of Command Area Development. The committee recommended that the government of Balochistan and Wapda should get together and decide regarding taking ownership of the project.
Senator Usman Khan Kakar raised the issue of the Khazana Dam in Balochistan and questioned the reason for change of location. He demanded that those responsible for this should be summoned in the next meeting. Briefings on sea intrusion in Sindh and the Kachi Canal project were deferred.
The meeting was also attended by senators Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah, Agha Shahzaib Durrani and senior officers of the Ministry of Water Resources, Wapda, Nepra along with all concerned.
