Energy resources: Centre and provinces at odds after 18th Amendment

Experts call for review of amendment to resolve energy crisis.


Our Correspondent September 06, 2012

ISLAMABAD: The 18th Amendment has given birth to constitutional issues between the central government and provinces, particularly causing problems in relation to the energy sector and underscoring the need for a review to help resolve the energy crisis.

These were the views of participants of a seminar titled “18th Constitutional Amendment: Implications for Energy Sector”, held at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) here on Wednesday.

Former water and power secretary Mirza Hamid Hassan, former senator Barrister Saadia Abbasi, Advocate Ameena Sohail, Pakistan Energy Lawyers Association President Muhammad Arif and IPS Director General Khalid Rahman spoke at the seminar.

They pointed out that the 18th Amendment was generally misconstrued and created a number of misconceptions even among provincial and central governments, leading to unwarranted demands.

According to Muhammad Arif, the 18th Amendment gives joint and equal rights over mineral and natural resources in a province to the Centre and province.

“This new arrangement has given birth to demands from the provinces, which even include the establishment of provincial regulatory authorities, division of Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC) and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and direct interaction with exploration and production companies,” he said, adding these were based on misunderstanding.

He said the central government had not been able to manage the changes incorporated through the 18th Amendment, causing a halt to the process of awarding new blocks for oil and gas exploration since June 2010, which manifested the anomalies created by the amendment.

Barrister Saadia Abbasi suggested that for bringing a positive change, long-term planning with coordinated approach was inevitable. “Unless a policy is formulated in consultation with all stakeholders and with assurance of consistency despite a change in government, it cannot be expected to bring good news,” she said.

She was of the opinion that though the provinces had been given powers to generate electricity, they could not do so because of a number of bottlenecks including lack of expertise and resources, inability to provide sovereign guarantees for international funding and absence of a national coordination plan.

Ameena Sohail pointed out that it was a misconception that the 18th Amendment gave freedom to provinces to generate electricity while they were restricted earlier. Actually, the right to construct power houses and grid stations, lay transmission lines, impose taxes or determine distribution preferences had been with the provinces even before the amendment, she said.

“What the 18th Amendment has done is mere reassurance that the central government will not take a decision on constructing a hydroelectric power station in any province without consultation with the provincial government,” she said.

Actually, the conflict arose when electricity was added to the federal list after abolition of the concurrent list, which made it difficult for the provinces, though empowered to generate and distribute energy, to execute their plans.

Mirza Hamid Hassan concluded the session with the observation that there was a need to revisit the 18th Amendment and take all stakeholders and experts on board.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2012.

 

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