ISLAMABAD
\nA high-level federal delegation led by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal called on Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Sohail Afridi at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad on Monday to discuss a wide range of intergovernmental issues, including fiscal matters, constitutional rights, energy supply, development financing and ongoing infrastructure projects.
\nThe meeting also discussed matters relating to the upcoming meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), development funding for the merged districts, wheat supply, hydropower projects and other issues of mutual concern.
\nDuring the meeting, the chief minister conveyed the provincial government\u2019s concerns over what he termed continued unequal treatment of KP in fiscal allocations and development financing. He stated that sustained denial of the province\u2019s constitutional and financial rights could adversely affect the environment required for constructive intergovernmental engagement, including participation in national forums such as the NEC.
\nHe emphasized that consultations with political leadership, particularly in major policy and budgetary decisions, were an essential part of governance, adding that such consultations were routinely undertaken by political parties before finalising key national matters.
\nHighlighting fiscal issues, the chief minister pointed out reductions in development allocations for the province and the merged districts. He said funding under the Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP) had been reduced from Rs37 billion to Rs27 billion, while development allocations for the merged districts had been reduced from Rs66 billion to Rs56 billion by the federal government.
\nHe further said that funds under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award for the merged districts had been withheld for the past eight years, causing serious harm to development initiatives and public welfare efforts in the region. On energy matters, the chief minister expressed concern over what he described as the stoppage of gas supply to the province.
\nHe said KP produces more than 500 MMCFD of natural gas daily, while its consumption stands at around 150 MMCFD, yet the province continues to face severe gas shortages and load shedding. He termed the situation contrary to constitutional provisions and the principles of equitable resource distribution.
\nHe also raised the issue of delays in the operationalisation of a completed dam project in Swat, attributing the delay to the non-issuance of required clearances for Chinese engineers by the federal authorities, which was hindering the timely utilisation of completed infrastructure.
\nSimilarly, the chief minister highlighted the non-operational status of the Peshawar Bus Terminal despite its completion, saying it remained closed due to the pending issuance of a No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the National Highway Authority. He stressed the need for early resolution so that the facility could be made functional for public benefit.
\nReferring to wheat supply issues, the chief minister stated that if Punjab was unwilling to resume wheat supply to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, then Articles 151 and 158 of the Constitution should be revisited, as these provisions guarantee interprovincial trade, free movement of goods and equitable access to resources. He emphasized that the Constitution must be implemented in letter and spirit without discrimination.
\nChief Minister Sohail Afridi urged the federal government to take practical and timely steps to resolve the longstanding constitutional, fiscal and development-related concerns of the province, ensuring equitable treatment of all federating units.
\nOn the occasion, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal assured the chief minister that the No Objection Certificate required for the operationalisation of the Peshawar Bus Terminal would be facilitated within 24 hours.
\nHe further assured that the concerns and proposals of the provincial government would be presented before the Prime Minister and other relevant federal forums for consideration and appropriate action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD A high-level federal delegation led by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal called on Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Sohail Afridi at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad on Monday to discuss a wide range of intergovernmental issues, including fiscal matters, constitutional rights, energy supply, development financing and ongoing infrastructure projects. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":98769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98784,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98763\/revisions\/98784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}