ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The government is in contact with donor agencies to establish an international consortium to arrange funds for the five major dams to be built in the country by 2016, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Dr Salman Shah told Dawn on Tuesday.

“We have finalized our initial estimates to fund large dams and will shortly seek financial support of international institutions,” said Dr Shah.

With a view to enhancing the financiers’ interest, the government was considering to give a ‘corporate identity’ to the proposed projects, he said.

As soon as the feasibility study of Bhasha dam was completed, international donors would be formally approached to negotiate loaning arrangements for all the proposed dams, he said.

He said the agencies concerned had started working on design and technical details of the five dams, after which the funding issue would be raised with the donors.

Responding to a question, the advisor said the government had firmed up its own funding arrangements for the proposed dams. “I cannot give you the exact amount being allocated for these dams by the government itself but certainly we will make available sizable funding for this purpose,” Dr Shah said.

He said major international donors were willing to provide the required funding for large dams. “We have established our credibility in the eyes of donor agencies and other financial institutions, including banks, to seek substantial funds for major development projects, including dams,” he added.

Project financing, he said, would be sought from foreign agencies on minimum mark-up so that there was no burden on the country’s economy.

“Since all the five major dams are economically and financially viable projects, we are not worried about the funding to be raised both internally and externally,” he asserted.