Secretary Ministry of Water Resources, Muhammad Ashraf said on Thursday that if 4,320MW Dasu hydel project is completed on schedule, it would be a miracle.
He was giving a briefing to the Senate Committee on Water Resources headed by Senator Shamim Afridi. The committee was furious at the absence of Chairman Wapda, Lt-Gen Muzzmal Hussain (retd) yet again and decided to move privilege motion against him in the House. The estranged senators Rana Muqbool Ahmed Khan and Sassui Palijo announced to move a privilege motion. Senator Pir Sabir Shah and senator Brig John Kenneth Williams (retd) supported the proposal.
Secretary Water Resources urged the Standing Committee to ensure timely release of funds allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) so that projects are completed in accordance with the timeline.
"The reason for delay in projects is due to non release of funds. The completion of Dasu project by February 2025 is linked to availability of funds," he added.
In reply to a question raised by senator Waleed Iqbal about purchase of land for the project, the secretary Water Resources said that there was no issue after the increase in amount from Rs 486 billion to Rs 511 billion as the affectees were asking for the same rates for their land which were paid to the affectees of Diamer Bhasha dam.
Federal Cabinet in October 2019 approved revised land acquisition cost amounting to Rs 36.914 billion on account of revised land rates and compensation for developments (built up property etc) made in project area after imposition of section-4 of Land Acquisition Act-1894.
Total required amount for the project is 9,875MW. The authorities have already acquired 742 acres of land, whereas land awards of 1,277 acres will be made till March 2020, 1,407 acres by June 2020, 6,449 acres by end of December 2020. The Project Director stated that if Diamer Bhasha dam is constructed, life of Tarbela Dam will be extended by 30 more years. He said, Diamer Bhasha is a very import project and if it is not constructed, run on the river projects like Dasu will also be silted.
The project commenced in June 2017. Its original completion date was February 2025 which has been revised up to February 2025 due to acquisition of land issues.
Giving briefing about preparatory work, the committee was informed that 10 contracts amounting to Rs 50 billion relating to project colony, relocation of Karakorum Highway (KKH), access roads, 132 transmission line activities are in progress.
For main works, two contract (dam and powerhouse) amounting to Rs 180 billion has been awarded. Construction activities on diversion tunnels and underground works areas are in progress.
The committee was further briefed that contract agreement with M/s General Electric-PowerChina Zhongnan JV was signed on November 25, 2019.
The committee on Water Resources in its meeting directed Irsa and all provincial irrigation departments to provide details about water distribution mechanism among the provinces and all rules and systems in place.
While discussing the matter of the land lost due to sea intrusion on different coastal districts of Sindh so far and the construction of Sindh barrage and its impact on reduction of sea intrusion the committee decided to move a privilege motion against the chairman Wapda on his continued absence from the committee.
While discussing the present status of Phase-II of the Greater Thal Canal Project the committee was told that Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been approached for financing the project and the project will change the living conditions of the people and will bring prosperity through a better canal system in the area.
The committee was also given a briefing on construction of five small dams in Balochistan: Sharan Dam in Sherani, Zama Khulgi Dam, Baratkhel Cheena Dam, Urgus Dam and Kum Khurasan Dam in Killa Saifullah. The Committee decided to write to provincial government and also directed the federal ministry to do the same to expedite the process of sending PC-1 of the projects to the federal government for approval.
Among others the meeting was attended by senators Muhammad Usman Kakar, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Sassui Palijo, John Kenneth Williams, Syed Sabir Shah, Waleed Iqbal, Secretary Water Resources, representatives from Wapda and irrigation departments.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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