CCI meets today after a year’s gap

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Common Interests (CCI), an inter-provincial constitutional body, will hold its 41st session today (Monday) after a gap of one year to discuss a 16-point agenda.Four chief ministers of provinces will attend the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in the federal capital. Along with chief ministers, the provincial chief secretaries have also been invited to the meeting.

According to the agenda, the annual reports of the CCI for 2016 and 2017 will be submitted to the session for approval. The CCI will discuss the amended petroleum policy, LNG import and amendment to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Ordinance 2002.

The issue of no objection certificate (NoC) for installation of a 25MW hydro-power project located on Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal will also be the part of the agenda.

A summary about privatisation of the Haveli Shah Bahadur and Balloki power plants has also been sent to the Council for decision. The issue of the distribution of natural resources under Article 158 and 172 will also be discussed in the CCI meeting.

The Alternate Energy Policy 2019 will also be presented in the CCI session for approval. The CCI will also discuss the appointment of the chairman and members of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).

President Arif Alvi had recently reconstituted the CCI. According to the notification, the new CCI will have seven members and will be chaired by the prime minister. Besides the prime minister as its chairman, other members of the council include chief ministers of the four provinces and nominees of the federal government including Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza and Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub. Earlier, the CCI meeting scheduled for December 11 was postponed owing to the excess agenda shared by Sindh.