ISLAMABAD, Jan 20: An inter-provincial committee on dams finalised on Saturday a draft report on the construction of five major dams by 2016 and resolved with consensus to implement a cabinet decision in this regard in letter and in spirit, a senior government official has claimed.

A meeting of the committee, presided over by secretary water and power Ashfaq Mahmood and attended by provincial representatives, decided to submit the report to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on January 27 after its circulation among the provinces. The meeting remained in session for about three hours.

On January 17, 2006, the federal cabinet had decided to take in hand Bhasha, Munda and Kurram Tangi and also construct Kalabagh and Akhori dams after removing reservations of provinces. In his speech to the nation the same day, President General Pervez Musharraf had announced that five mega dams would be completed by 2016.

"The committee resolved with consensus to implement the cabinet decision both in letter and in spirit," Mr Mahmood told Dawn after finalising minutes of the meeting as well as the draft report in consultation with water and power adviser Riaz Ahmad Khan and senior joint secretary Zahir Shah Mohmand.

He declined to comment if Wapda had submitted an action plan in response to written positions of provinces on Kalabagh and Akhori dams, saying all these things were part of the process and he would not go into specifics. He also declined to comment on issues relating to resettlement and land acquisition for the two dams.

Responding to another question on financial arrangements for the construction of dams, Mr Mahmood said a high-level task force had separately been assigned that task.

Asked about another decision of the cabinet that envisaged Wapda to launch an awareness campaign about the facts and figures of the dams, he said the resolve to implement the cabinet decision in letter and spirit also covered that campaign.

Informed sources said the NWFP and Sindh reiterated their viewpoints on Kalabagh and Akhori dams. Therefore, the committee decided to present the viewpoints of the two provinces along with Wapda’s action plan and minutes of the committee meeting to the CDWP in the form of a formal report for discussions and decisions.

Sindh and the NWFP had earlier opposed the finalisation of land acquisition and resettlement plans for Kalabagh and Akhori dams till the people were convinced by Wapda about their benefits on the basis of facts and figures.

Sindh has already informed the committee about its objections to the construction of Kalabagh and Akhori dams on the grounds that surplus water would be available only for 11 years out of 27 years, and that too would be enough to meet existing provincial shares under the water accord, and not for new dams.

The committee was constituted by the CDWP in October to finalise an action plan for the construction of three big dams -- Kalabagh, Akhori and Diamer-Bhasha -- by the year 2016. Sindh is also opposed to water withdrawals through Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Punjnad link canals in times of shortages, which should be used in flood season.A special task force on dams, led by adviser to the prime minister on finance Dr Salman Shah, is preparing simultaneously a $17 billion, 15-year business plan for the construction of Kalabagh, Akhori and Diamer-Bhasha dams and discussing it with four major lenders -- the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Saudi Fund for Development and Islamic Development Bank.

Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) will be created to finance and construct the Diamer-Bhasha dam on the lines of international practice investment and tax purposes. The SPVs will enable the government to take up the project along market-based commercial lines without recourse to normal audit issues and bureaucratic approvals and may encourage even the local private sector to be part of it under the new public-private partnership scheme.

Some of the lenders have, however, informed the government that a broad-based resettlement policy, risk mitigation measures and a long-term business plan along with a repayment mechanism were required to meet their standards, policy concerns and board approvals.

According to the water and power ministry, the total cost of three dams was expected to be about Rs1.027 trillion ($17.1 billion), including a foreign exchange component of Rs433 billion ($7.22 billion). The cost of the Diamer-Bhasha, Kalabagh and Akhori dams were estimated at $6.51 billion, $6.2 billion and $4.44 billion respectively.

The government plans to seek foreign financing of $2.964 billion for Diamer-Bhasha dam, $2.84 billion for Kalabagh dam and $1.42 billion for Akhori dam.