Hydel profit dispute: Wapda endorses Justice Ajmal as Arbitration Tribunal head

The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has formally endorsed the name of Justice Ajmal Mian (Retd) as chairman, Arbitration Tribunal, which would resolve the dispute on National Hydel Profit (NHP) between the utility and NWFP, it is reliably learnt.
The Frontier province recently recommended the name of Justice Ajmal Mian during informal consultation with Wapda Chairman Tariq Hamid.
The Water and power ministry is expected to send a summary to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for approval of the name of the chairman and terms of reference of the Arbitration Tribunal.
The province, which recently protested over non- payment of quarterly NHP of Rs 1.5 billion by Wapda in time agreed to the NWFP proposal after realising that co-operation was not being provided to it at the federal level.
The NHP committee headed by Water and Power Secretary Ashfaq Mahmud has already finalised Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Arbitration Tribunal, but refused to guarantee to NWFP that the decision of the tribunal could not be changed.
The Frontier province, however, raised several objections over the Terms of Reference, which would come under discussion when the Tribunal would meet in the months to come.