Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Wednesday observed that foreign investment is welcome without conditionalities by the investor, as Pakistan is a sovereign state and investment agreements must be subject to local laws.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing a set of petitions, challenging illegal award of contract to Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), a Canadian and Chilean consortium of Barrick Gold and Antofagasta Minerals for exploring gold and copper mine in Reko Diq.
"The foreign companies are most welcome to invest in Pakistan; but their agreements must be under the local laws, without any dictation from the investor, as we are a sovereign state," he said. Resuming arguments on the issue, Khalid Anwar, counsel for TCCP, said that the company took over the project when BHP - another mining company--failed to undertake the project. The BHP left after realisation that it had wasted resources and time as reflected in its policy decision of 1992.
Responding to a question about relaxation in mining rules on the dictation of the company, the counsel pleaded that laws should not be persons- or company-specific. "In Sandak project, no rules were relaxed. Various projects are going on in different parts of the country, including Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from Sheerani to Bela in Balochistan, but there is no single precedent showing such relaxation," he contended.
The counsel said that BHP never asked for relaxation, and all contracts were signed through mutual consent of both parties. He said the company wants to invest in Pakistan for improving its deteriorating investment environment.
He said: "We need to prove to the foreign investors that Pakistan is a trustworthy investment destination." The counsel also contended that a Chinese company took over the Sandak project after a local company failed to run the project and did nothing for six years.
He said that government functionaries are not capable of managing commercial and scientific projects like the Reko Diq due to lack of required skills as the bureaucrats' training is not business-oriented. The counsel said that law of demand and supply has nothing to do with the Supreme Court decisions. "This is the reason", he said, "that the apex court verdict on sugar prices was not instrumental in breaking the cartel." He added that if Pakistan Steel Mills had been privatised, Pakistan would have saved nearly Rs 100 billion as the Russian and Saudi companies were interested to revamp the 40-year old obsolete system of the mills. The hearing was adjourned till March 8.
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