LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Autho­rity (Wapda) is neither ‘professionally managing nor monitoring’ the Rs57 billion Kachhi canal project with the result that the construction is “likely to get delayed further and suffer cost overrun”.

This was observed in a letter sent recently by the Planning Commission to the Ministry of Water and Power and Wapda. Both entities were told to take action and apprise the commission in a month.

From the canal, Baloch­istan is expected to irrigate 713,000 acres of land in Dera Bugti, Nasirabad, Bolan and Jhal Magsi districts and earn Rs19bn a year through improved agricultural yields.

Also read: Wapda claims having saved Rs500m in canal project

Wapda has been executing the first part of the canal project, the section which was originally scheduled to be completed in 2009, but was delayed till 2016. However, the new deadline is also likely to be missed.

According to the letter, a team constituted by the commission along with the project director and other officials visited a 310km stretch of the 403km-long canal project in the first week of December, and noted: “In many reaches already excavated canal has been silted up and many slabs of PCC lining are damaged. Progress on desilting is very slow. In some reaches work on the bund and service road has not been taken up. Work on catch drain and dowel is yet to be done. Construction of some major structures and even earthwork has not been undertaken yet. Site office of the contractor is 15km away from the canal and little resources have been mobilised. Therefore, the commitment and willingness of the contractor may be judged by the executing agency (Wapda). If deemed appropriate, an exit strategy may be adopted and left-over work retendered.”

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2016