The statistics cited in this review blog is taken from Fifth Annual Report 2012 The State of the Economy: The Punjab Story by Institute of Public Policy (IPP), Beacon House National University, Lahore. The Main Contributors of the report are Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Shahid Javed Burki, Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Parvez Hasan, Kamal Mannoo, Hafiz Ahmed Pasha.
As per constitution of Pakistan 1973, Article 157, Clause (2) and (3), state:
§ (2) The Government of a Province may,
· (a) to the extent electricity is supplied to that Province from the national grid, require supply to be made in bulk for transmission and distribution within the Province;
· (b) levy tax on consumption of electricity within the Province;
· (c) construct power houses and grid stations and lay transmission lines for use within the Province; and
· (d) determine the tariff for distribution of electricity within the Province.
§ (3) In case of any dispute between the federal government and a provincial government in respect of any matter under this Article, any of the said Governments may move the Council of Common Interests for resolution of the dispute.
Further, Govt. of Punjab Energy Department mentioned on its website:
Following the 18th amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan, the provinces are now vested with full authority to develop power projects of any capacity through public or private sector and establish required regulatory
However, despite all the provision with Govt. of Punjab as per constitution of 1973, to develop power projects to enhance power generation capacity and allocating Rs. 9 Billion in FY 2011-12 and Rs. 10 Billion in FY 2012-13, Punjab Govt. failed to materialize any Power Generation project and none is expected in near future.
The reason Govt. of Punjab offered to Punjab's people is that it is facing various hurdles and delaying tactics from the Federal Government for its proposals. Rightly so. This raises another question, that, rather intricate and challenging issues like 18th Amendment, 19th Amendment, 20th Amendment, NFC Award or the appointment of the credible Chief Election Commissioner, got resolved admirably well with consensus but why then projects directly related to public welfare and economy could not get resolved yet? To me, it represent Punjab's government seriously lack sound negotiation skills and technically incompetent team for that matter. Every province's interests are highly interconnected; you will have to seek a right kind of balance through intelligent and properly thought out negotiations.