RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is reluctant to convene a Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting to resolve controversy between Center and Sindh government on the use of imported LNG for power projects in Punjab, it was learnt.

Sources in the Inter-provincial Coordination Ministry on condition of anonymity said the Prime Minister has not asked them to schedule a CCI meeting after abrupt cancellation of last meeting scheduled for August 24, 2015 without giving any reason. “We received directives for cancellation of the meeting from the Prime Minister’s office at the last moment,” they said, adding that some important items like import of LNG, a proposal of Sindh government, was placed on agenda among many other items to develop consensus between federal and Sindh government on import and use of LNG for RLNG-based power plants.

Holding a CCI meeting within 90 days is a constitutional requirement; however, the federal government has continuously violated this provision during its current tenure: the last CCI meeting was held mid-March and that too after a nine-month gap.

As per sub-clauses 2 and 3 of Article 154 of the Constitution, the Council has to be constituted within thirty days of the Prime Minister taking oath of office and “it would meet at least once in every ninety days”.

Government of Sindh’s contention was, as per federal legislative list-II, gas is a provincial subject and the federal government must take the province’s consent before taking any decision. The provincial government also urges the federal government to take such decisions at the forum of the CCI and not Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC). The provinces have no representation in the ECC whose such decisions have direct bearing on the provinces.

The Sindh government was not ready to bear the cost burden of LNG and also strongly reacted to swap arrangement of natural gas with imported LNG stating “neither SNGPL nor SSGCL is authorized to unilaterally and arbitrarily decide swapping of natural gas without provincial consent”. The Sindh government argued that swap arrangement is against Article 158, which guarantees precedence to the province producing natural gas and wants the matter to be placed before the CCI because this would cause serious problems to energy security of Sindh.

Asked whether the Sindh government has requested a CCI meeting to discuss the emerging issues relating to Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) with respect to the offer to Sindh of first refusal to run the mills, the official stated that the province may be contemplating this but so far no such proposal was forwarded to IPCC.

Source said a proposal to supply water to twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi from Tarbela Dam was also on the agenda of last CCI meeting. As per proposal, total water requirement of Islamabad was estimated at 200 cusecs and each province was required to give 50 cusecs from its water share in Tarbela. Three provinces agreed, however, the consent of Sindh province was still awaited. They added the federal government has decided to discuss the matter at CCI level to solicit Sindh’s consent. Sources said Punjab government wants to provide 200 cusecs for Rawalpindi from its share in Tarbela.