LAHORE, Dec 17: A financial crunch, re-settlement of Tarbela Dam sufferers and environmental issues have delayed the Ghazi Brotha Hydel Project (GBHP) for more than three years.

This was stated by a Wapda spokesman while commenting on the inordinate delay in the project, and the recent report by the Director-General, Wapda Audit, that accused the management of causing Rs80 billion loss.

He said the preparation of a credible financial plan that could satisfy the World Bank was an uphill task. It required the authority to foot 44 per cent (almost $900 million) bill out of entire cost ($2.2 billion) of the project. Since Wapda was going through the worst financial crisis during the mid-nineties, it took almost two years to prepare the plan.

The delay was caused because the government did not allow Wapda to raise tariff by 15 to 20 per cent and generate money. Rather, it asked the authority to raise money by floating bonds worth Rs25 billion during the next five years, and progressively raise power tariff.

Due to these reasons, the loan agreement, which was due in 1995, was signed in 1997, after a delay of two years.

The land acquisition process, another factor for inordinate delay in the project, hit numerous snags because of the land mafia that moved into the area. It bought land meant for the power channel at cheaper rates and later sold the same to Wapda at higher price.

On this account alone, the cost of land, which was supposed to be Rs2 billion in project document, went up to Rs 7.3 billion. The process not only cost extra money, but a lot of time was also wasted in the legal nitty gritty. Irregularities in the land acquisition process were reported by Wapda to high-ups and some 27 cases were now with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The resettlement of 2,200 Tarbela victims also caused the delay. The authority submitted to the World Bank that it had already paid dues to all the affected and the rest of the process was with the provincial government. But the World Bank needed some more guarantees, and it took extra time to meet those demands.

It is a fact that the project has been delayed and obviously the delay had some cost, but it was wrong to lay the blame at the door of Wapda. The authority, on the other hand, had retrieved the project by at least one year, he insisted.

Though the price has gone up, it was still within the limits of the cost earlier estimated by the authority.

It may be mentioned here that the DG, Audit, in a recent report, had accused the authority of mismanagement and delaying the Ghazi Brotha project. According to calculations made by the report, each year the delay costs Pakistan Rs35 billion, and the project has already been delayed by two years, costing the country Rs70 billion. It also pointed out Rs10 billion irregularities in payments.