ISLAMABAD: The very impression that the Centre failed to facilitate the provinces to enhance the ceiling of their loans and to ensure their drawing power, besides sovereign guarantees of the federal government is quite wrong, told a well-placed source at Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to this scribe here on Monday.
The source said that the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in its meeting held on February 10 this year decided on the recommendations of FBR that the Finance Division would convey sovereign guarantees to provinces to enhance their ceiling of loans especially for power generation projects. “The Thar Coal Mining Project was specifically was named in the said decision,” the source observed.
The source said that both the federal and provincial governments had been authorized under Article 157 (3) of the Constitution to move to CCI in case of any dispute between them in respect of any matter under the said Article and CCI was supposed to seek recommendations from FBR on any dispute.
“Prior to the Constitution (18th) Amendment Act, 2010, the subject of Electricity was on the Concurrent Legislative List and on omission of the said List, the subject stood transferred to the Federal Legislative List,” the source observed.
However, the source said that18th Amendment kept provisions consciously intact so that the powers of the provinces before the 18th amendment were not affected and the Provinces continue to contribute towards promotion of energy sector.
Electricity as a subject falls in the purview CCI and the CCI in its meeting held on 28-04-2011considered the Summary submitted by the Government of the Punjab on “Dispute arising from the interpretation of Article 157 of the Constitution by the Federation & appropriate amendment in the policy for power generation projects 2002 so as to bring it in line with the letter and spirit of the said Article” and approved the interpretation of Article 157 as explained in the Summary by the Punjab Government: the source quoted.
However, the source said that it was decided that by Secretary Ministry of Water & Power, Chairman, NEPRA, representatives of Provincial Governments in consultation with FBR would finalize final recommendations for required amendments to enable provinces to construct required power construct power houses, grid stations and lay transmission lines.
