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Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Govt plans to end load shedding in 3 years: PMEnergy policy fails to launch
* Provinces decline to stamp National Power Policy 2013-14 without having detailed review of proposed amendments needed for its implementation
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: During a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Tuesday all the four provinces declined to approve the National Power Policy 2013-14 without having a detailed review of the proposed amendments needed for its implementation, official sources said.
Official sources said that the provincial chief ministers were more cautious about the proposed amendments needed for the approval of the National Power Policy 2013. They complained about the non-provision of the proposed summaries of the CCI meeting ten days ahead of the meeting as laid down in the Rule 5 of the CCI. Keeping in view the concern of the provinces, the CCI chairman has constituted a high-level committee comprising chief secretaries of all four provinces and their technical experts, representatives from ministries of finance, law and justice, water and power, petroleum and natural resources. The committee would brief the provincial teams on the proposed amendments needed for the National Power Policy and would try to remove the concerns of the provinces within one week and incorporate recommendations, if any, from the provinces.
The meetings of the committee would continuously be held from next Monday to Saturday, and after completion of the consultation provinces with the provinces, another CCI meeting would be convened for a consensus decision, the sources added. However, the provincial chief ministers have appreciated the objectives of the National Power Policy. Official sources further informed that ceremonial approval of the CCI is needed for the proposed IMF Loan Package. The sources informed that federal government has not given a detailed presentation on the proposed $5.3 billion IMF loan package nor the details of the prior actions (painful decisions) attached with the IMF loan programme to the provinces.
The provincial government having less capacity to understand the implications of the prior actions attached with the IMF loan programme kept on complaining about the timely releases of their revenue shares in the NFC Award. The provinces also complained that they are denied the complete tax revenues share as was announced at the start of the fiscal year. Each year the federal government, in the federal budget, projects revenue share of each province and at the end of fiscal year it always falls short, leaving provinces to cut short their development spending and priorities.
It disturbs the development priorities of the regions and sectors, they complained, the sources added. The provinces demanded that in case they are assured of the timely and complete release of projected revenue share under the NFC Award by June 30, 2013, they would be ready to facilitate the federal government in carrying out the initiatives under IMF loan programme.
The official sources said that the federal government has informed the provinces that upon completion of the negotiations and completion of approval of the loan from the Executive Board of the IMF, provinces would be informed about the conditionalities accordingly. Once the loan is approved by the IMF Board its details would be presented in the CCI meeting as well as in parliament for detailed discussion. It is worth mentioning here that the IMF mission and the government of Pakistan had recently agreed to a $5.3 billion fresh three-year loan programme, namely “Extended Fund Facility”, with repayment period of 10 years, with first four years without any repayment as grace period.Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk