Islamabad : The Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) has approached Finance Ministry for foreign exchange to meet outstanding expenses of GBP £ 140,606 to pay professional fee to Howard Kennedy with respect to international arbitration with M/s Star Hydropower Limited (SHPL) as the government of Pakistan is facing an exceptional situation with respect to this litigation.
According to a letter written by the Managing Director PPIB, Shahjahan Mirza, Star Hydropower Limited had moved arbitration against NTDC before London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), wherein, an award of May 18, 2022 was rendered against NTDC and NTDC was held liable to pay Rs2,019,318,458 under delayed invoices plus interest at delayed rate (KIBOR plus 4.5 per $16,452, 807 as damages, $ 2,272,240 as legal costs and GBP £51,180.02 as arbitration cost.
The company called upon GoP guarantee of December 20, 2012 for payment of award money which rejected by GoP/PPIB. Consequently, the company-initiated arbitration at LCIA under the GoP guarantee.
Previously, the Ministry of Finance in its letter of July 7, 2023, issued under No Objection Certificate (NOC) for foreign exchange of GBP 472,101.10. So far, the PPIB has made payments of GBP £172,836.31 to the Howard Kennedy law firm and LCIA court fee out of total approved amount of GBP £472,101.10 and the NOC issued by the Ministry of Finance was valid till June 30, 2024.
Further, foreign exchange of about GBP £140 ,606.43 will be required to meet various LCIA related expenses submitted to PPIB so far. Therefore, NOC be issued for immediate payment.
In view of the foregoing, the PPIB managing director has requested the Power Division to refer the matter to the Finance Division for allocation of foreign exchange remittance of GBP £140,606.43 through the State Bank of Pakistan against PKR funds to be provided by the PPIB provisionally due to the time constraints from its own resources to meet outstanding expenses with respect to the arbitration.
Last month, PPIB had sought GBP 185,000 to make outstanding payments to the concerned law firm.
