ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday announced that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the co-financers on the project have agreed to continue funding of the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project.

The announcement by the minister came during his meeting with a delegation from IDB and Saudi Fund for Development at the Ministry of Finance today.

"The project will be completed in the tenure of the current government and will prove to be a symbol of pride for the nation," said Dar.

Read: Dar rejects proposal to privatise Neelum-Jhelum project

In the last meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy, a sub-committee was formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss the issues that still need to be resolved in the project.

The prime minister had handed over responsibility of resolving financing and other related issues of the project to the finance minister.

"The interest taken by government of Pakistan for early completion of this project is highly appreciated while the Ministries of Finance and Water & Power have come up with out-of-the-box solutions to expedite the work on the project," said Dr Farid Ahmad Khan, energy specialist at IDB .

Also read: Four labourers die in Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project accident

Dar thanked the delegation for co-operation and also appreciated the efforts of the sub-committee, which discussed issues and suggested solutions.

The project located near Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir envisages diversion of water from the Neelum river through a 42km tunnel underneath the Jhelum river.

The 969MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project was scheduled to become operational by the end of 2016 but the deadline might not be met due to hostile contractors and other financial issues.