By Shakeel Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will today chair a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) a constitutional body in the Government of Pakistan that is appointed by the President on the advice of the premier to resolve the disputes of power sharing between the federation and provinces to comprehensively examine a 16-point agenda.
Sources familiar with the matter told the media on Sunday that chief ministers of four provinces will attend the meeting while CCI Annual Report 2016 and 2017 will be presented for approval. The meeting is also likely to approve a draft bill for amendments to the Petroleum (Exploration & Production) Policy 2012, which governed the complete process, linked with this sector and was approved by the Council of Common Interests. The CCI comprises of the prime minister, four chief ministers and federal ministers for finance, industries & production, inter-provincial coordination and economic affairs.
Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination FahmidaMirza and four provincial chief secretaries have also been invited to the meeting.
Federal ministers for law, energy, federal education & professional training, planning and development, privatisation, science & technology, water resources, National Health Services, the attorney general of Pakistan, deputy chairman of Planning Commission, chairmen of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Higher Education Commission, and at least a dozen federal secretaries would attend the meeting.
Importantly, provision of the net hydel profit (NHP) share of the provinces will be discussed in the meeting.
Other issues, including import of LNG (Liquefied natural gas (LNG), royalty to the Petroleum Ministry on LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) production will be analysed. The issue of controlling the rapidly growing population of the country is also on the council’s agenda.
The recommendations of the attorney general regarding the water distribution agreement among the provinces are also included in the agenda.
The summary of privatisation of Haveli Shah Bahadur and Balloki Power Plant has also been forwarded to the CCI.
The matter of illegal transfer of funds to the provinces by the provincial government of Punjab will be discussed, and a debate on the complaint of Sindh over “unconstitutional and unauthorised deduction by FBR from the Provincial Consolidated Fund (PCF)” will also be held by the CCI. These funds are maintained by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Furthermore, as the cabinet division is seeking amendments to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Ordinance, 2002, to meet a conditionality placed forward by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by Dec. 31 under Structural Benchmark and Performance Criteria for the 2019-22 Extended Fund Facility (EFF) granted to Pakistan, the government has committed “ensuring regular and timely notifications for end-consumer tariffs in the gas sector” besides “submission of changes to the OGRA Act for CCI approval by end-December 2019 to eliminate the gap between regular semi-annual tariff determination and notification. After CCI’s approval, a bill will be introduced in parliament for adoption”.
Tomorrow’s meeting is also taking up a summary moved by the Sindh government against the issuance of no-objection certificate (NOC) by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) for CJ Hydropower Project on Chashma-Jhelum Link canal with majority vote opposed by water regulator’s member Sindh.
Moreover, according to the agenda, a draft regarding the appointment of the chairman of the WAPDA and its members will also be presented at the meeting.
