Council of Common Interests meets today after a year’s gap

 Prime Minister Imran Khan. Photo: File

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will chair the 41st session of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) today to discuss a 16-point agenda.

Today’s meeting will be held after a year's gap. Under the rules, the CCI should meet at least once in 90 days but it was not convened since November 2018.

The meeting will be attended by all the four chief ministers in the federal capital along with the provincial chief secretaries, The News reported.

According to the meeting's agenda for today, annual reports of CCI for 2016 and 2017 will be submitted to the session for approval. The CCI will also discuss the amended petroleum policy, LNG import and amendment to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Ordinance 2002.

The issue of no objection certificate (NoC) for installation of a 25MW hydropower project located on Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal is also the part of the agenda.

A summary about the privatisation of the Haveli Shah Bahadur and Balloki Power Plants has also been sent to the council for a decision. The issue of the distribution of natural resources under Article 158 and 172 will also be discussed in the CCI meeting.

Moreover, the Alternate Energy Policy 2019 will also be presented in the CCI session for approval. A discussion on the appointment of the chairman and members of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) will also take place in the meeting.

On December 18, President Arif Alvi had reconstituted the CCI on the advice of the prime minister. According to the notification, the new CCI will comprise seven members and would be chaired by the prime minister. Members of the council would include chief ministers of the four provinces and nominees of the federal government.

Nominees from the federal government include Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza and Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub.

An earlier session of the CCI meeting scheduled for December 11 was postponed owing to the excess agenda shared by Sindh.

Last meeting

In its last meeting held on November 19, 2018, the members expressed concern over the rapid growth in population and decided to constitute National and Provincial Task Forces to be headed by prime minister and chief ministers.