Ministry of Water and Power has requested Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms to allocate Rs 231 billion for water and power sector in the federal development budget for the next fiscal year. A meeting of National Assembly''s Standing Committee on Water & Power chaired by Arshad Khan Leghari was briefed on proposals of Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the next fiscal year here on Wednesday.

The officials of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and Ministry of Water and Power complained of low allocation and less-than-sanctioned releases for water sector and stated that the allocation of Rs 150 billion in the federal development budget would be sought for the next fiscal year.

The committee was informed that an amount of Rs 216 billion was proposed for 173 projects; however, only 25 to 30 per cent of the proposed funds have been released during the ongoing fiscal year. The committee decided to approach Planning and Finance Divisions for allocation of proposed funds of the ministry. Additional Secretary Water and Power Hassan Nasir Jamy said the ministry has sought allocation of Rs 150 billion for the projects of water sector in the federal PSDP for the next fiscal year.

The committee was displeased on the absence of chairman WAPDA from the meeting. The officials of WAPDA said that the chairman was unable to attend the committee meeting because of his meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The WAPDA official said the proposal is to increase the cost of Kachhi Canal project from Rs 57 billion to Rs 80 billion. The committee members said that increase in cost has made these projects very expensive.

The official of the Sindh government said that the rehabilitation and modernisation of Sukkur Barrage would cost Rs 16 billion and the federal government and the provincial government must pick up 10 per cent cost by each and remaining should be taken from the World Bank.

State Minister for Water & Power Abid Sher Ali briefed the committee about the details of the projects proposed for inclusion in the next year''s PSDP. The state minister said that there must be an investigation in delay in completion of the projects of water and power sector and the responsible persons must be penalised. MNAs, Muhammad Junaid Anwaar Chaudhary, Malik Ihtebar Khan, Ghulam Rasul Sahi, Sardar Mansab Ali Dogar, Rana Afzaal Hussain, Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Malik Ghulam Rabbani Khar, Junaid Akbar, Syed Waseem Hussain, Maulana Muhammad Gohar Shah, Dr Syed Ghazi Ghulab Jamal and Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub, and officials of the ministry attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017