National Finance Commission Award’s 2nd Round Today
August 28, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under Breaking News
ISLAMABAD: Second session of the opening meeting of the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award with Minister of Finance Shaukat Tarin in chair being held today in Islamabad.
In the first session on Thursday the centre and provinces finalized the agenda of the NFC Award with unanimity.
The commission had included all contentious issues in the agenda for an NFC meeting today (Friday), in line with a demand by the provinces. The level of poverty and backwardness, the impacts of the war against terrorism, sales tax on the services sector and hydal net profit were included in the agenda of the commission.
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah told reporters after attending the first meeting of the reconstituted NFC that the commission had included all contentious in the agenda. He said the federating units were of the view that an agenda prepared by elected representatives from all provinces should be followed, and “thanks to the chairman, our demand was accepted”.
He said the federal government would be strengthened further if the federating units were economically empowered. He said Friday’s presentation on resource availability would help provinces form a consensus over what should be demanded from the federal government in the new NFC.
He hoped that despite a huge agenda including new issues, the NFC Award would be finalised by the end of September. He said that the new award would be finalised according to the aspirations of the provinces, as the last two awards were finalised by non-elected persons.
NWFP Finance Minister Humayun Khan was of the view that his province needed additional help, along with an increased share in the NFC Award, as the war on terror had affected the provincial economy. He said the province had been unable to develop its infrastructure because of the non-payment of net hydel profits.
Punjab Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira told reporters that Punjab was participating in NFC negotiations with “an open mind … any revenue-sharing formula agreed by other provinces will be acceptable to us if Punjab’s demands are met”.
Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd said a “sense of deprivation” had prevailed in the province for the last 63 years. He said the Balochistan government wanted to bring the province at par with other federating units, and “for this purpose we need an increase in the NFC share”.
Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tareen told reporters that Thursday’s NFC deliberations had, to a large extent, removed the apprehensions among stakeholders, and paved way for smooth negotiations.
He said despite the inclusion of new issues in the NFC agenda, it would not be difficult to finalise the new award. He said several committees were to be formed to resolve each and every issue raised by the provinces in the minimum possible time.
National Finance Commission Award’s 2nd Round Today was first posted on August 28, 2009 at 11:13 am.
©2009 “Pakistan News“.
