ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Wapda has challenged Nespak's appointment as consultant to process international tenders for the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project in Azad Kashmir.

Sources told Dawn on Monday that Wapda had submitted written reservations over minutes of a meeting held in November that empowered Nespak to hold international competitive bidding for the $1.6 billion 969-megawatt project within three months.

The meeting was presided over by Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi. Wapda sources said the authority's Chairman Tariq Hameed had also expressed reservations over the decision to appoint Nespak as consultant to the project during the meeting.

However, Secretary Water and Power Ashfaq Mehmood had told the Wapda chief that the ministry was not satisfied with the authority's performance in this regard and the government could not afford to waste any more time in the implementation of such a strategic project. Any delay in the execution of the project will deprive Pakistan of its priority rights over Neelum River waters.

Now, the Wapda has not only asked for placing on record its reservations but has also invited fresh expressions of interest (EOIs) on its own, seeking proposals for engineering services for the project's implementation.

"The controversy between the Ministry of Water and Power and its sub-ordinate autonomous utility has reached a stage that a final decision will have to be taken by the prime minister or the president," a senior Wapda official said.

An official of the power ministry confirmed that Wapda expressed reservations over the subject but said the minutes of the meeting were being submitted to the competent authority for approval.

Wapda has raised a number of objections, but the most important is the argument that under the law Wapda has the sole responsibility of developing water resources and executing hydel projects and no other agency could be assigned the job.

The Wapda believes that Nespak could also submit an EOI like any other local and foreign engineering consulting firm for the project implementation because it is an engineering services company but it cannot be assigned the job of an executing agency.

The meeting presided over by water and power minister on November 25 had also directed Nespak to set up a special cell to complete the documentation, tendering and evaluation of the interested companies within three months to award the contract to the prospective bidder.

The meeting had also decided that financial proposals of the pre-qualified bidders would be evaluated by the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan in addition to Nespak to ensure maximum transparency.