FWO agrees to build Gomal Zam Dam: total cost to be increased

The government has decided to increase the total cost of Gomal Zam Dam, as the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has agreed to undertake construction abandoned by a Chinese company, sources told Business Recorder.
At a recent meeting in the Planning and Development (P&D) division, the government has agreed in principle to revise the cost of the dam from around Rs 12.8 billion to over Rs 15 billion, the sources said.
This was one of the major demands of the FWO for resumption of work, according to the sources. They said the Chinese company had abandoned the work after the kidnapping of their engineers in 2004.
According to the original plan, the dam, which is being built on Gomal river in South Waziristan, was to be completed by June 2006, but the unfortunate incident had forced the Chinese company to abandon the project for goods, they added.
Delays in implementation of development projects always result in escalation of the cost and put more pressure on the national exchequer, the sources said. They were of the view that prices of cement, steel, and wages of labour have considerably increased over the last two years.
The Chinese firm, which was awarded the contract initially for Rs 4 billion, was also demanding an increase in the allocation and according to some reports, the company had demanded an additional grant of 25 million dollar for resuming the work.
According to the PC-1 of the project, the total cost was estimated at Rs 12.82 billion with foreign aid of Rs 4.96 billion. The main objective of the project is to irrigate 163,086 acres of D I Khan division and generate 17.4 mega watt electricity.
The Chinese Company September 2004 monthly report says that 98 percent work has been completed on design and services, 16 percent on dam and spillway, 14.4 percent on the main canal and irrigation system, two percent work distributaries and 23.6 percent on transmission line.
The sources said personal interest taken by the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission had forced Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to stop opposition of upward revision of the dam's cost. As the government is concerned about the energy shortage in the country, the completion of water and power projects has got utmost priority, the sources added.