Centre reaches accord with Punjab, K-P

PM Abbasi chairs high-level meeting to resolve lingering issue

ISLAMABAD: Just two days after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) reached a consensus over fresh delimitation of constituencies, the federal government on Wednesday announced that the issue of net hydel profits with Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had been resolved ‘amicably’.

The decision was made during a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi which was attended by K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha, secretaries of finance, water and power divisions, chief secretaries of the two provinces and other senior officials of the federal and provincial governments.



The PM Office where the meeting took place did not share any details with the media except that the meeting discussed the issue of net hydel profits which was ‘resolved amicable’.

“The issue of net hydel profits is amicably resolved during the meeting after taking into account the claims of the two provincial governments and the modus operandi for the settlement of the amount involved,” a statement from the PM Office said.

Sources said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was scheduled to attend the meeting before he decided to send the provincial finance minister due to his hectic schedule in Lahore.

According to insiders, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister was assured by the prime minister that the province would get its due share in the profits from power generation in the province, including Tarbela from where electricity is generated and transmitted to the federal capital and other parts of the country.

Due to prolonged dry weather, the share of hydropower in the energy mix posted a considerable decline. However, with the onset of rains the situation is expected to improve in the coming days.