PESHAWAR: Federal minister for water resources Faisal Vawda on Tuesday said the delay in the construction of Dasu dam is costing the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments Rs340 million daily.

After holding talks with Chief Minister Mehmood Khan and senior officials on Dasu dam along with the representatives of Water and Power Development Authority and water ministry, the minister told reporters that for the first time, the KP CM had been taken on board by the federal authorities on the reservoir’s construction.

He said the project delayed for several years had been causing billions of rupees worth of losses to the centre and province altogether.

Minister says centre will go ‘out of the way’ to help provinces execute hydropower projects

“The federal government is suffering a loss of Rs300 million every day, while KP’s daily losses stand at Rs40 million due to delay in the dam’s construction,” he said.

Mr Vawda said during the last PML-N government, the relevant federal authorities had denied the KP chief minister a meeting on the issue for four years.

He said the centre and province had agreed to tackle the dam issue on a war footing, while the World Bank had also showed interest in building the water reservoir.

The minister said the construction of this dam would benefit the people of the province.

He said another meeting on the matter would take place on Nov 30.

Mr Vawda said the centre was extending all possible support to all provinces on hydropower projects.

“We will go out of the way to facilitate provinces on such initiatives,” he said, adding that he would also try to ensure funding for the purpose.

The minister said the Nawaz Sharif government had delayed the crucial Dasu dam project fearing that the rival PTI’s government in the province would take the credit for it.

He said such vital projects had been delayed for years causing billions of rupees worth of losses to the country.

Mr Vawda said the process of land acquisition for the dam was delayed but the government had decided to ‘directly’ tackle the issues it inherited from the previous government.

He said the federal government would not be blackmailed in the name of the 18th Constitutional Amendment and that it was ready to ‘go out of the way’ to help the provinces execute water and power projects.

The minister appreciated the KP chief minister’s efforts to facilitate his ministry on hydropower projects.

He said the KP government was not to blame for delay in the land acquisition for the Dasu dam project as the last PML-N-led federal government took 16 months to hold a single meeting on it.

Mr Vawda said the money for large hydropower projects could be arranged through public-private partnership.

On the occasion, Chief Minister Mehmood Khan said the province had several sites, which could be developed for hydropower projects.

He said his government was striving to generate power through water resources.

MOU SIGNED: The KP government on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with a Korean firm for the execution of hydropower project in Kohistan district.

A statement issued here said under the MoU, the Spatgah hydropower project would be executed on the basis of public-private partnership.

It said the five-year 456 megawatts project would generate the province Rs3 billion revenue annually.

The statement said the MoU was signed between the KP government and Korean firm, KHNP.

Koran ambassador Sung Kyu Kwak was also present in the MoU signing ceremony.

In 2012, the KP government had signed a MoU with another South Korean company for the construction of the same project. However, the agreement expired in 2014.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2018