Sindh for comprehensive discussions on dams: Inter-provincial committee meeting today
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: The Sindh government plans to demand separate discussions on each aspect rather than consolidated deliberations of the construction of three big dams before the inter-provincial assessment committee on dams submits its report to the federal government.
The committee headed by water and power secretary Ashfaq Mehmood was constituted by the Central Development Working Party in October to prepare recommendations on all aspects of the three dams -- Kalabagh, Akhori and Diamer-Bhasha -- for implementation latest by November 30. The committee holds its first meeting on Monday.
Informed sources told Dawn on Sunday that the representatives from Sindh had been instructed by their government to seek separate discussion on aspects, including environmental impact, land acquisition process, construction priority, funding and implementation strategy of the three dams.
They have also been directed to call for availability of PC-II and design documents of the three projects instead of a consolidate recommendations. These dams are part of five dams President Pervez Musharraf plans to construct before 2016.
The assessment committee comprises representations from all the four provinces. Its recommendations will be presented before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for consideration and approval for projects implementation schedules and loan negotiations with the international lenders.
The government has estimated a total cost of Rs1027 billion ($17 billion) 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.
