ISLAMABAD: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has urged the federal government to end discrimination against the province and release Rs156 billion in outstanding hydel profits.
The KP chief minister raised these issues during a meeting with Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar.
According to a handout issued by the finance ministry, Pervez Khattak apprised the federal government of the issues related to some ministries including Ministry of Water and Power, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Federal Board of Revenue and Planning and Development.
Talking to the media after the meeting, Khattak said he asked the federal government to increase payments on account of net hydel profits (NHP) that were capped at Rs6 billion annually.
Khattak said that there should be no electricity and gas loadshedding in KP as the province was generating 3,400 megawatts of electricity while its demand was not more than 2,400MW.
The chief minister refused to take the responsibility of electricity theft and lower recovery of bills, saying it fell within the purview of federal government.
Responding to the KP CM’s demands, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the federal government would extend all possible support to the KP government in the economic development of the province. He directed the tax authorities to resolve all outstanding issues faced by the province in the next two weeks.
Regarding hydel profits, it was agreed that the matter would be taken up by the Ministry of Water and Power on a priority basis with input from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in an attempt to propose workable solutions.
