July 4, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3,1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 3: The Ghazi Barotha hydropower project is expected to be completed by the end of this month to meet power demand in the country.

Informed sources said Wapda authorities had assured the federal government that the 1,450MW project, which was originally to be executed by December 2002 at a cost of Rs89.8 billion, was now likely to be completed by the end of this month.

So far, Rs79.7 billion has been spent on the project which involves construction of a barrage 7km downstream Tarbela Dam on Indus River, a 52km-long power channel with a capacity of 1,600 cusecs and a 1,450MW power house.

The work on the project started in December 1995 with the financial help of many international agencies, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

The power generated, according to Wapda, will be transmitted through national grid systems and as such the whole country will be benefited.

The World Bank, until recently, has been expressing serious concern over the failure of the government to implement the resettlement and environmental agreements under the Ghazi Barotha project being built on the left bank of Indus River in Swabi, Haripur and Attock districts.

While the World Bank supported efforts to eradicate corruption and ensure accountability, it voiced concern repeatedly on the way the investigations into the resettlement action plan implementation were carried out.