Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has formally addressed the issue of the province’s outstanding Net Hydel Brackly News (NHP) dues with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In a letter sent to the Prime Minister, Gandapur pointed to constitutional provisions, particularly Article 161(2), which mandates the allocation of revenues from hydropower plants to the entitled provinces.
As per reports, the Chief Minister highlighted that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) is responsible for determining the NHP rate. The Qazi Committee Methodology (KCM), approved by the CCI in 1991, established the NHP formula, leading to the first payment of Rs. 6 billion to the then-North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in 1992. This methodology was later endorsed by the National Finance Commission (NFC) and the Supreme Court in 1997. However, inconsistencies in payments have led to accumulated dues of Rs. 75 billion for the province.
The letter also detailed how an interim arrangement, ratified by the CCI in 2016, set the NHP rate at Rs. 1.10 per kilowatt-hour with a 5% annual indexation.
Despite these agreements, the payments to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been irregular, prompting the provincial government to push for full implementation of the KCM formula.
Gandapur further referred to a 2019 committee report that verified the province was owed Rs. 128 billion in NHP for the financial year 2016-17.
He urged the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of the out-of-the-box committee, formed to address these payments, in order to ensure a fair and constitutional resolution.
The Chief Minister expressed confidence that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would lead efforts to resolve the matter in the province’s favor.