The government is in the process of striking a deal on the Reko Diq issue but the details are yet to be finalised, according to a senior finance ministry official, reported Business Recorder.
According to the report, Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Anwar Mansoor Khan flew to London for a meeting with the Reko Diq board on October 14, 2019. A spokesman for the Finance Ministry, in response to a question with regard to a pay out of US$1 billion to the company, stated that there is nothing final yet and “things are in pipeline”.
The AGP told the newspaper that “the matter is confidential and therefore I can’t share anything about it. I will not confirm or deny your query.”
In a recent Bloomberg report, it was claimed that officials at the provincial Balochistan government met with a consortium of four business groups including tycoons Arif Habib and Muhammad Ali Tabba who are willing to invest about $1 billion of their own cash in the project.
The report stated that the consortium is willing to go through a bidding process to take over the project.
On July 13, 2019, International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes announced a $5.976 billion award against Pakistan in the Reko Diq case with $4.08 billion penalty and $1.87 billion interest to TCC, a joint venture between Chile’s Antofagasta Plc and Canada’s Barrick Gold, who had filed a lawsuit in 2012 against Pakistan in the international court of settlement after the Reko Diq contract awarded to it was suspended.
