The chairman water and power development authority (WAPDA) on Thursday stated that Neelum Jhelum Hydel Power Project''s cost has gone to Rs 500 billion from Rs 88 billion, will start producing electricity by February 2018. Briefing National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources chaired by Khalid Hussain Magsi, Chairman WAPDA Lieutenant General Muzammil Hussain (retd) said that Neelum Jhelum hydel Power Project would be operational by February 2018.

He said the project was reshaped after the 2005 earthquake and the project has 68 kilometer tunnel and four turbines. The cost of the project initially estimated in PC-I at Rs 88 billion increased to Rs 500 billion, Hussain added. The meeting was informed that the first unit of Golan Gol Hydro Power Project will become functional in December 2017 which will help reduce the loadshedding in Chitral.

The Chairman WAPDA also stated that there is a need to make Diamar Basha Dam operational by 2018. He maintained that from August 2016 to May 2018 over 2400 MW electricity from hydel project will be added to the system. The committee acknowledged the viability of Neelum Jehlum Hydel Power Project and fourth extension project of Tarbella and underlined the need for their early completion to meet the requirement of electricity.

It recommended that the ministry may ensure the completion of all projects within given timeframe as it had been observed unnecessary delays escalated the cost of the projects caused huge losses to the government exchequer. The panel further recommended that the ministry may avoid initiating new projects before the completion of ongoing projects to ensure proper utilization of funds.

It expressed concern that the mandate of some departments like National Transmission and Dispatched Company (NTDC) had been assigned to the ministry of energy after the change in nomenclature of the ministries concerned which could affect their overall performance as they mainly interlink with M/o Water Resources.

Earlier, the federal minister for water resources, secretary and chairman WAPDA briefly apprised the committee about the efforts made by them to complete the ongoing projects within given timeframe and problems faced by them in this regard.

MNAs, Chaudhary Muhammad Tufail, Ghulam Rasul Sahi, Pir Aslam Bodla, Rao Muhammad Ajmal, Abdul Sattar Bachani, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Salim Rehman, Syed Waseem Hussain, Moulana Gohar Shah and Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan attended the meeting, besides officials of the ministry.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017