ISLAMABAD: The World Bank is likely to approve Pakistan’s request to extend the deadline till November next year for the utilisation of funds given by the bank for the Dasu hydropower project.

The World Bank approved two different loans — $19.3 million and $398.1m — for Pakistan in August 2014 for the Dasu hydropower project and the funds were meant for land acquisition and resettlement of the people affected by the project, it was officially learnt here.

The government wrote a letter to the World Bank on Nov 15 seeking extension in the deadline till Nov 20 next year for the utilisation of the funds meant for land acquisition and resettlement of the people.

The two loans became effective in August 2014, with June 30, 2022 as the closing date.

The World Bank has termed the Dasu hydro­power project a “high-risk, high-reward” operation aimed at providing low-cost, non-carbon renewable energy. The project will initially have an installed capacity of 2,160MW on the Indus, which can be expanded to 4,320MW in future at a very low cost.

The land acquisition process for the project started late due to delay in reaching agreement with the people and departments concerned on compensation rates and this delay also continued due to various administrative hurdles.

Consequently, the time given by the bank under the agreement for the use of funds for land acquisition and resettlement, including the one year extension approved in 2016, was lost.

According to a World Bank report, initially the process of land acquisition was slow because of inadequate coordination between Wapda, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the Dasu district administration, but lately it has improved. The report, however, notes that procurement of key contracts has been slow due to cancellation of the previously awarded contracts and court cases holding up the rebidding.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2017