PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The federal government has set up a committee to resolve a dispute between the Centre and Sindh over the construction of two re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG)-fired power plants in Punjab which were approved a year ago.
According to an official handout, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) decided that the federal ministers for water and power, and petroleum and natural resources, the attorney general, finance ministers of all provinces and the federal law secretary will meet within a week to resolve the issue of interpretation of Article 154 of Constitution in relation to the two projects.
Since the 18th constitutional amendment was passed, Punjab has been facing an acute gas shortage resulting in rationing of the fuel across the province. To mitigate the province’s crisis, the federal government has been importing gas.
The Sindh government, however, insists that since imported RLNG is essentially natural gas, it falls under the joint ownership of the provinces. Article 154 states the Council of Common Interests (CCI) shall formulate and regulate policies pertaining to matters in Part II of the Federal Legislative List and shall exercise supervision and control over related institutions.
In light of this, the Sindh government has opposed the Ecnec move in March last year to approve the Baloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah RLNG-fired power plants in Kasur and Jhang districts, respectively, contending that the panel did not have the constitutional mandate to clear the projects. Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah argued that the projects could not be constructed without CCI’s endorsement, and demanded that it be placed before the council.
The Ministry of Water and Power, however, has opposed taking the matter before the CCI. The Ministry of Planning and Development, which is overseeing the construction of the two plants, has already sanctioned Rs36 billion for the projects in the current fiscal year. Construction of the two plants is already under way.
Ecnec on Wednesday also conditionally cleared the Tarbela 5th extension project at a cost of Rs81 billion, linking the construction of a new tunnel at the reservoir with a no-objection certificate from the Indus River System Authority (Irsa). The approval will help in securing foreign loans for the project, according to officials.
The Tarbela 5th extension project is slated to be completed in four years. Work on the 4th extension is already under way, and the government wants to complete it before the next general elections.
Ecnec also approved a Rs7.5 billion coal transportation project for the $1.5 billion Jamshoro power plant, addressing one of the reasons for withholding the release of a $900 million loan by the Asian Development Bank two years after its approval.
It also approved the revised Lyari Expressway Project at a rationalised cost of Rs11.5 billion. National Highway Authority representatives informed the panel that problems relating to land acquisition and resettlement had been resolved.
Ecnec also took up five development schemes in energy and communication sectors worth a combined Rs290 billion. The schemes include the two RLNG-fired power plants in Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2016.
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