ISLAMABAD, April 10: Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi said on Monday the government planned to start work on six major dams over the next two years. In a written reply to a question by Maulana Abdul Malik, the minister identified the dams as Bhasha-Diamer, Munda, Kurram Tangi, Kalabagh, Akhori and Nai Gaj and informed the National Assembly about the status of these projects.
He said that the Bhasha-Diamer dam, to be built in Chilas, would have a storage capacity of 7.3MAF (million acre feet). Bhasha would be the biggest dam among the six as far as the capacity is concerned. Its feasibility study has been completed and its design and tender documents are under preparation.
Munda dam will have a capacity of 0.67MAF and is planned to be constructed in Swat, he said, adding that a private company was preparing its feasibility report.
Kurram Tangi dam’s design, envisaging a capacity of 0.614MAF, and tender documents are complete. The dam is planned for North Waziristan.
Mr Jatoi said that Kalabagh dam would have a capacity of 6.1MAF and its feasibility and tender documents were updated in 2005.
He said the Akhori dam, the second largest reservoir, would have a capacity of 7MAF and would be built near Attock. Its feasibility has been completed and is being reviewed by Wapda.
He said the PC-II of Nai Gaj dam, to be constructed in Dadu with a capacity of 0.13MAF, had been approved by the Central Development Working Party and added that the project would cost Rs62.36 million. Survey and other investigations for it are in progress.
KALABAGH STUDIES: Answering a question regarding the Kalabagh dam, the minister, in a written reply, stated that Rs1 billion had already been spent on various studies on this project. These reports have been reviewed by the World Bank, UNDP and Wapda.
He said that first these studies were undertaken in 1956 by M/s Tipton and Hill. In 1966 another study was done by M/s Chas T. Main, the World Bank consultants. M/s Associated Consulting Engineers Karachi carried out another study in 1975 and project engineering studies were done by the Kalabagh Consultants in 1988 with the help of the World Bank.
Five firms — Binnie and Partners (England), Hazara Engineering (USA), Preece and Cardew and Rider Ltd, Associated Consulting Engineers and Nespak — carried out project planning studies.
Mr Jatoi denied reports that the Bhasha-Diamer dam project had been shelved and said a consensus had been achieved among all the provinces on a water distribution formula.
He said the feasibility report of the renamed Bhasha-Diamer dam was ready and its groundbreaking would be performed by President General Pervez Musharraf as soon as weather permitted it.
He said work on the Gomal Zam dam project had stopped because of the killing of an engineer and abduction of another, which cost the government dearly in payment of compensation. He said the project would be re-tendered in accordance with its new cost which had been increased by about $50 million.
He denied there was any difference among provinces on the distribution of water as the Indus River System Authority had got a consensus agreement among the provinces on the quantum of water distribution.
He admitted that the newly installed telemetry system had run into trouble and said the ministry had taken up the matter with the contractor for its rectification. Ali Akbar Vaince of treasury claimed that Sindh was getting more than three times its share of water.
POWER AFFAIRS: In reply to a query, he said Pakistan had signed an MoU with Tajikistan for purchase of electricity for which talks would be held on April 30.
Responding to complaints by lawmakers from Karachi about over-billing by the KESC, he said: “We will convey the concern of the members to the new KESC management since it has been privatised.”
The minister assured the house that Wapda defaulters would be dealt with according to law. He said the Peshawar Electric Supply Company had defaulted on payment of Rs11 billion and unless this amount was recovered no substantial development work could be undertaken.
When Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain asked the minister to take defaulters to the task, he said: “If this is the consensus of the house then he will proceed accordingly”.
The speaker said that instead of getting approval of the house Wapda should try to enforce rules to recover its dues.
Mr Jatoi admitted that power theft continued to haunt Wapda and said that action would be taken against those involved.
In response to a Fata member’s concern about insufficient number of grid stations, the minister said work on several new projects was in progress but stressed the need for restoration of the law and order in the tribal region for timely completion of the projects.
