ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali on Thursday informed the Senate that the construction work on Diamer-Bhasha dam will be started by the end of this year, 2017.
Replying to a question in the upper house of the parliament, the minister said that planning work has been completed and sufficient amount has already been used on initial work of the project.
In a written reply, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that the updation of PC-I was in process and according to the financing strategy, dam and pre-requisites will be implemented through PSDP grants plus WAPDA arranged financing, whereas power generation facilities will be implemented through local and foreign loans plus WAPDA arranged financing.
He said that construction of infra-structure or preliminary work on Diamer Bhasha Dam Project like project colony at Thore Valley, composite model village-II at Harpan Das are in progress.
He said that most of the land required for the project has already been acquired through PSDP funds.
He said that recently, financing strategy for Implementation of Diamer Bhasha Dam Project has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Energy on November 30, 2016. In the light of financing strategy, WAPDA has been directed to update PC-Is (one for dam part and the other for power generation).
He said that as per Article 157 (2) (c) and (d) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the provinces may construct power houses and grid stations and lay transmission lines for use within the province and determine tariff for distribution of electricity within the province.
He said that in order to encourage the provinces to generate electricity by their own, the government of Pakistan (GoP) had announced ?Power Generation Policy 2015,in April 2015, which offered various initiatives to allow provinces, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan to develop their own power projects.
He said that the Power Policy 2015 also allows provinces, AJK and GB entities to issue Letter of Interest (LOI) and letter of Support (LOS), prepare pre-qualification and bid documents, pre-qualify the sponsors, evaluate the bids/proposals, and award the projects.
The minister said that as per Power Policy 2015, relevant entities in the provinces, AJK and GB will provide a one-window facility for implementation of projects under the policy and will issue LOI and LOS, prepare pre-qualification and bid documents, pre-qualify the sponsors, evaluate the bids/proposals and award the projects.
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