No clearance for Kalabagh, two other dams: CDWP approves 23 projects
By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: The government has decided to defer three mega dam projects -- Kalabagh, Akhori and Diamer-Bhasha -- owing to opposition from smaller provinces.
The projects with a total cost of Rs1.027 trillion ($17 billion) were put up before a meeting of the central development working party (CDWP) for concept clearance here on Monday to start formal discussions with lenders for foreign funding arrangements.
The meeting, presided over by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr Akram Sheikh, however, approved Rs1.677 billion, including foreign aid of Rs98 million, for detailed engineering design and preparation of tender documents of the Diamer-Bhasha dam project.
The meeting also approved 23 projects costing Rs74 billion.
Representatives of the Sindh government said that an assessment committee had been constituted by the CDWP in the last meeting to submit a comprehensive report covering six key aspects of the three dams and concept clearance could not be taken up at this stage.
They proposed that concept clearance be delayed so that provinces could give their input to the committee and then findings of the committee could be considered at the CDWP level.
A participant of the meeting told Dawn that representatives of the NWFP and Balochistan supported the Sindh’s stance.
The CDWP also agreed to refer the financing arrangement to the assessment committee led by Water and Power Secretary Ashfaq Mehmood. The committee which was earlier given the deadline of Nov 30 will hold its first meeting on Dec 4.
The committee was earlier required to cover five aspects -- environmental impact, land acquisition process, construction priority, funding and implementation strategy of the three dams, which are part of the five dams President Musharraf planned to construct before 2016. Now, the funding arrangements and procedure would also be looked into by the same committee.
It was, however, not clear why the Water and Power Ministry forwarded the three projects for concept clearance when its secretary was yet to hold the first meeting of the committee on the assessment of five vital aspects of the three dams. The committee comprised representatives from all the four provinces.
Planning Commission’s Joint Secretary Shahnawaz Husain told reporters after the meeting that the Planning Commission did not have powers to stop discussion on any project.
The Water and Power Ministry had presented a total cost of Rs1.027 trillion for the three projects, including a foreign exchange component of Rs433 billion ($7.22 billion). The cost of Diamer-Bhasha, Kalabagh and Akhori dams had been estimated at $6.51 billion, $6.2 billion and $4.44 billion, respectively.
In all, 34 projects with an estimated cost of Rs1.107 trillion were on the CDWP’s agenda. Of them, 11 projects costing Rs1.033 trillion were either deferred or withdrawn.
The CDWP approved or cleared for approval by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) 23 projects at a total cost of Rs74 billion. This included the enhanced cost of 184mw Chashma Hydropower Project at Rs21.1 billion that had been completed many years ago.
The CDWP also approved Rs5.96 billion for rehabilitation of 175 kilometre national highway damaged by the October 8 quake in the Azad Kashmir. It would be undertaken by the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA).
Another important project approved at the meeting included Rs20 billion maternal, newborn and child health national programme.
