ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) would complete $2.5 billion Ghazi Barotha power project through its own resources in case the World Bank continued exerting pressure on Pakistan to drop corruption cases in the multi-million dollar land acquisition scam.

“We are not sitting with folded hands. We will do it ourselves. We will complete the project at our own, come what may,” said Wapda chairman Lt-Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan, adding that “we have to decide that we are capable of taking independent decisions.”

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, he said Wapda would offer a package to the industrial and agricultural consumers under which peak-hour consumption would be on higher rates and off-peak consumption at lower rates.

Zulfiqar said the World Bank had written a letter to the Pakistan government asking it to suspend investigations against those arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) under corruption charges in the Ghazi Barotha land acquisition.

The Wapda chief said the issue had been raised through a series of letters by NGOs like Sungi Foundation and the late minister, Omar Asghar Khan, that the government should not recover money from those arrested by NAB.

He said the land worth Rs5,000 to Rs6,000 per kanal was purchased at Rs140,000 per kanal out of the public money through fake attorneys and by showing virgin land as orchards by the mafia and deserving people were never compensated.

“It is ironic that public money was distributed in such a way and the World Bank was asking not to recover that amount when it never stops lecturing against corruption,” said the Wapda chief.

He went on to say that 98 per cent work on barrage, 95 per cent on channel and 88 per cent on power house of Ghazi Barotha project had already been completed and its first unit would be tested in March and put into operation in May 2003. The remaining units would come on line after every three months, he added.

He further said that he had referred the purchase of 1.5 million energy meters from a Chinese firm to NAB on voluntary basis. Local meter manufacturers, he added, had been fleecing consumers through sale of meters at Rs1,400 per meter for more than five years and at Rs1,150 per meter since last three years.

On the other hand, he pointed out, the Chinese company had offered a price of Rs730 per meter which resulted in over Rs450 million saving to Wapda and ultimately to consumers.

Zulfiqar said Wapda had asked the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) not to use the utility as revenue collection agency in case of general sales tax (GST).

He said Wapda was briefing provincial governments as well as federal ministers on various development projects in the irrigation and power generation sectors so that all the stakeholders were brought on board the national projects under the Vision 2025 programme.