PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Friday directed the quarters concerned to move a summary to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) containing recommendations of the provincial government to safeguard its interests in gas sector.
This he said while presiding over a meeting at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in Peshawar. Among others Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan, administrative secretaries of departments concerned and Chief Executive Officer Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Company attended the meeting.
The meeting was told that federal government had decided unilaterally the unbundling of SNGPL/SSGC ignoring the consent of the provinces through Economic Coordination Committee.
The process was meant to finance RLNG transmission and LNG imports to Punjab at the expense of other three provinces, the meeting was told, adding that the process was based on imports and not indigenous gas.
It was also revealed that according to the proposed unbundling structure by federal government, there would be one national company for transmission while four distribution companies at provincial level.
The participants of the meeting were told that compensating the financial losses out of provincial royalties was totally against the interest of the province.
The meeting proposed that exploration, production, transmission and distribution should be under single company controlled at provincial level through a cohesive system.
The meeting was told that government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had 32 per cent and 53 per cent shares in SNGPL and SSGCL respectively giving them legal power to have its own company.
The chief minister said, “We will have to act quickly to safeguard the interests of the province at CCI the constitutional forum for protecting our rights and interest.”
He made it clear that his government would never compromise on the rights and interest of the province.
He authorised the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Energy and Power Department to negotiate with the federal government and ordered to move a summary in this regard.
