These projects included the Flood Emergency Reconstruction and Resilience Project (FERRP) financed by ADB with over $220 million and the Patrind Hydropower project with $97 million. Currently AJK is getting Rs1.1 billion as water usage charges, but by giving its due net hydel profit share, the revenue would increase to Rs12 billion," said Asif Hassain, adding that an agreement in this regard has been reached with the government of Pakistan recently and the matter would be taken in the cabinet soon.
The official said that the whole of the development funds i.e. Rs25 billion is financed by the government of Pakistan through its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) but lamented by saying that these funds have been slashed to Rs22 billion recently which would affect the development projects. For a bigger cause i.e. national integration the government of Pakistan needs to continue the financial assistance. The senior AJK official lamented that AJK has no representation in important bodies like Council of Common Interest (CCI), National Finance Commission (NFC) and IRSA and is not getting AJK water usage charges equity.
Hussain further said that the government of Pakistan has added AJK to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the 6th JCC meeting and initially Mansehra-Muzaffarabad-Mirpur-Mangla Expressway with an estimated cost of Rs142 billion. Further Mirpur Special Economic Zone has been included in the CPEC, while the 1124 MW Kohala and 720 MW Karrot Hydel power generations are parts of CPEC.
AJK is currently producing around 2361.82 MW Hydel power, projects of 974 MW are ongoing while projects of around 5919 MW are upcoming/under process. However total estimated requirements of AJK is 350 MW while the rest is contributing to the national economy of Pakistan, he added.
Hussain further said that AJK has around 1.5 million overseas remitting around $4billion annually and providing a helping hand to the national economy. He further said that the biggest challenge to AJK is unemployment.
Talking about ADB funded projects, AJK official, who is also Additional Chief Secretary Planning, & Development Depart AJK said that the Bank came to finance these projects at crucial time as no other was ready to come to the area.
The ADB financing is also like a grant for AJK as the government of Pakistan has to pay back and not by the AJK, he added.
These projects have opened new vistas of economic development and social recovery of flood affected areas by rehabilitating and reconstructing high priority infrastructure. These projects resulted in access, serviced delivery and tourism in the remote areas, he added.
With the implementation of the project, tourism industry is expected to increase manifold which would create jobs opportunities besides, improving the life standard of the people in the area.
Acting Chief Secretary further said that the Government of AJK has planned to establish three tourism corridors across the state for attracting the local as well as foreign tourist to promote and develop the local tourism industry, but would continue to focus on quality tourism.
This initiative of the government would help in creating employment opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled youth, reduce poverty and enhance income of rural people.
All the work was completed within stipulated time frame and saved a reasonable amount which were spent on the construction of different sections of other roads that were affected by the flash floods and landslides, he added.