Oil and gas: Provinces push for joint ownership of resources

Petroleum minister asks Sindh to buy and run Pakistan Steel Mills.

KARACHI:

Parliamentarians belonging to all four provinces, while expressing dismay over the delay by the federal government in implementing the 18th Amendment, have demanded that a mechanism should be developed for “joint ownership rights” over natural gas and oil for the provinces.

Addressing a conference on “Joint Operationalisation of Oil and Gas Resources – Issues and Solution” held here on Saturday, Federal Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi assured the participants that the federal government would implement the 18th Amendment in letter and spirit, but added that Punjab had suffered losses following the promulgation of 18th Amendment.

“Many industries and factories have stopped operating because of the energy crisis seemingly because the extra share of oil and gas of Punjab have been diverted to other provinces after the landmark legislation (18th Amendment),” he said.

PSM privatisation

After the conference, Abbasi, while speaking to the media, invited the Sindh government to buy Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). “PSM is on the privatisation list again. The plan to privatise the mill was originally devised in 1998, which was later dropped. PPP leaders and ministers in the Sindh government are criticising us. I have no objection if they buy it,” he said.

The PSM has suffered losses of more than Rs100 billion in the last 10 years and the government cannot sustain further losses, he added.

Responding to the offer, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah refused to buy the mill, saying it was Centre’s responsibility to run the mill in a smooth way.

The petroleum minister questioned why the Sindh government has failed to generate power from Thar coal. “We have been hearing over the years that the province would soon generate electricity from coal. It has not yet been done. At least, the government should give concrete reasons.”

For their part, the lawmakers blamed the federal government for not implementing the 18th Amendment. “If the then government had recognised the rights of our Bengali brothers and given provincial autonomy to East Pakistan, we would have not lost it,” said Senator Hasil Bizenjo, who belongs to the ruling National Party of Balochistan.

Although the conference, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, was supposed to be attended by all four chief ministers, only Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah turned up.

Shah, while referring to the 18th Amendment, quoted Article 172 (3) and said, “we have serious reservations as to why the 18th Amendment is not being implemented. Seventy-two per cent of gas and 60% of crude oil is produced from Sindh. The federal government is plundering our natural resources by not giving Sindh its due share,” he said.

The chief minister remarked that many leases for oil and gas exploration sites are pending due to confusion over the issue. “We ask the federal government, especially the prime minister, to expedite the process and accept joint ownership rights over natural resources,” he added.

Senator Afrasiab Khattak of the Awami National Party asked the Centre why it has delayed joint ownership rights for the provincial governments.

“It looks like Islamabad is not willing to devolve powers. The federal government should re-consider its decision,” he suggested.

Khattak said there was an agreement between the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on disbursement of net hydel profits under which the province was supposed to get Rs6 billion every year. But this only continued from 1991 to 1993.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2013.

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