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Govt, Hubco make direct contact

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan and Hub Power Company made direct contact on Friday last in pursuance of the World Bank-facilitated dialogue between the two parties for the resolution of half a decade old tariff dispute, the Bank officials said.

The World Bank officials made the two parties talk for about half an hour through a video conference, which linked Islamabad with London. According to a WB press releases focus of the discussion was Hubco's latest offer for tariff reduction that was rejected as "vague" by the Water and Power Development Authority last month.

The WB officials said that Hubco agreed to assist Pakistan authorities with further technical work related to the financial aspects of the offer.

The two parties also agreed to close down the media war against each other and mutually decided not to leak out anything related with the dispute. They decided that the WB would be authorised to issue information with regard to the developments on the negotiations to the press.

The parties agreed to hold next session of discussion in Pakistan and not through the video conference to build a conducive atmosphere.