BAROTHA, Aug 19: President General Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday announced the construction of Kalabagh and Bhasha dams on the River Indus in the next couple of years.

“Kalabagh dam will be constructed and Bhasha dam will also be constructed. There should be no doubt about it,” said the president, adding that both projects were imperative for the national economy.

Inaugurating the first unit of the 1,450MW Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project, he said it would be decided after June next which of the two projects should be started first. Wapda, he pointed out, had planned to build the Kalabagh dam in 2000 but due to the controversy generated by some quarters over it, the feasibility study for the Bhasha dam was launched.

The president said that technical data and hydrological readings had been collected and feasibility report of the Bhasha dam would be completed by the next June. He said at that stage the government would have two options, either to construct the Bhasha dam or Kalabagh dam, but made it clear that one of the dams would have to be constructed immediately.

He hoped that the government would overcome all problems on the issue and said it would identify the elements who were creating wrong impressions about key projects to politicize them.

Gen Musharraf said electricity prices in the country were high which was not only a burden on the common man but was also affecting the industry. He said the past governments were responsible for this situation and not Wapda.

“I guarantee that power rates will come down in the next two or three years if the intentions are clear and projects started by the government continue to be implemented,” he said.

The government, he said, was already examining how to reduce the electricity tariff and maintained that the prices would be reduced because of two reasons — a decline in payments to the IPPs and an increase in the ratio of the hydel power generation.

The president criticized the then PPP government for signing agreements with 14 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in 1994-95 which had increased the average energy cost from 73 paisa per unit in 1988 to Rs4.60 units in 2003.

He pointed out that the IPPs had converted the hydel-thermal ratio of 60:40 in 1994-95 to 30:70 today and said the situation would be reversed in the next three to four years. He said people blamed Wapda for high energy costs but added that a six times increase in tariff was because of the IPPs.

He said the cost of doing business should be as low as possible to make products internationally competitive and attract investment.

Criticizing the past governments, Gen Musharraf said the level of dishonesty was so high that instead of the projects being based on hydel, coal or gas — which are abundant in the country — or the nuclear power, which we can produce successfully, the previous governments promoted the fuel oil-based thermal power projects.

He said the GBHP would increase the hydel power generation from the current 29 per cent to 38pc and reduce dependence on thermal power. He said the project would help save Rs13 billion.

He said China was assisting Pakistan to develop coal-based power plants at Thar where only one block could produce up to 3000MW.

He said the NWFP and Punjab governments had shown an ideal spirit of cooperation in the development of the Ghazi Barotha project, proving that everything could be done in the country if all provinces cooperated.

The president said no province would be able to steal even a drop of water in future and added that to satisfy the people of Sindh, a Rs350 million telemetry system had been installed at all barrages, headworks and dams so that all provinces could monitor the hourly water releases.

He said the government was also taking up a number of other hydel projects, including the raising of Mangla dam’s height and an increase in the generation capacity of Tarbela dam.

The president later inaugurated the first unit of the project which would be fully operational by August next year at an estimated cost of $2.05 billion.