K-P is already being fully compensated for the use of its land through the net hydel profit.
LAHORE: Imran Khan has said that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has a surplus of power and is exporting it to the other provinces. Earlier, a K-P minister had said that the province would take its full requirement of electricity from the Tarbela Dam before releasing any to the other provinces. While oil, gas, coal and water are natural resources — and as per the NFC Award, a province having these resources will have first use of them — the power produced from them is not a natural resource; it is very much a value-added resource.
Billions of rupees, of the taxpayers’ money, were spent on the construction of the Tarbela Dam, billions of dollars of debt was incurred from foreign donors, which continues to be a permanent burden on the head of every Pakistani. Are the people who paid for this dam to be built only to be given leftovers? By what logic can K-P lay claim to all the electricity being generated at the Tarbela Dam? K-P is already being fully compensated for the use of its land through the net hydel profit, which is worth billions.
This is a very serious issue deserving the authorities’ full attention. The framers of the NFC Award, have in their wisdom, laid down that a province will have first use of the resources located in its territory. Going by the logic of the K-P minister, soon Balochistan may say the same about Sui Gas and Sindh may say the same thing about the power generated from Thar coal. What will this do to the development of the country as a whole? It is only common sense that national resources must belong to the nation to be utilised judiciously for the overall development of the country. Otherwise, Punjab not having any power from hydel, coal or gas, should start winding down its industries and limit itself to growing food for its own people only.
Engr Khurshid Anwer
Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2013.
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