ISLAMABAD, May 22: The federal government has refused to allocate more than Rs2 billion in budget 2003-04 for Raising of Mangla Dam project owing to Wapda’s failure to get the Azad Kashmir government round to signing an agreement.

Sources in the planning commission told Dawn that Wapda had demanded an amount of Rs41.5 billion for the water sector projects but Rs13.1 billion have been agreed to by the federal government. This is around 20 per cent higher than Rs10.9 billion envisaged in the original PSDP 2002-03.

The Water and Power Development Authority had demanded Rs8 billion for Mangla Dam raising but only Rs2 billion were agreed to. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs59 billion.

These sources said that Rs1.5 billion have been allocated for Greater Thal Canal project for the year 2003-04, another Rs1.5 billion for National Drainage Programme, Rs300 million for Rainy Canal and Rs200 million for Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD).