Tag Archives: Diamer- Bhasha dam

National Water Policy Approved

on 07/06/2018

Centre and the provinces agree to select water reservoirs with consensus in line with the 1991 water apportionment accord; thorough examination of impact on sea intrusion, environmental protection and provincial water rights compulsory

After more than a decade, all four provinces and the center have agreed to a water policy targeting to construct a new dam which will add up over 6 MAF to the total water resources in Pakistan.

The Council of Common Interests (CCI) formally approved on April 24, 2018 the policy called as  National Water Policy (NWP) with all chief ministers in attendance in the moot presided over the prime minister.

Implementation of the NWP would be undertaken through a National Water Council (NWC)—a new national level body headed by the prime minister and comprising the federal ministers for water resources, finance, power and planning, development and reforms and all provincial chief ministers.

Achieving consensus was, no doubt, Commendable for which background efforts were made to hunt down reservations of the provinces. Thus, the signing of the document by the chief ministers went swift.

Resolving one of the major issues, Wapda, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will work out net hydel profit arrears for the two provinces in accordance with the A.G.N. Kazi formula.

The Centre and the provinces agreed under the policy that selection of water reservoirs would be made with consensus in line with the 1991 water apportionment accord and after thorough examination of their impact on sea intrusion, environmental protection and provincial water rights to secure surplus water in the system.

The policy acknowledges the need to adopt the NWP with an initial target of increasing storage capacity from existing 14 million acre feet (MAF) by immediately starting the construction of 6.4 MAF Diamer Bhasha dam which had already been cleared by the CCI back in 2009.

The policy empowers the provinces to develop their master plans within a national framework for sustainable development and management of water resources keeping in view the depleting water resources in the country.

The policy covers all water-related issues, including water uses and allocation of priorities, integrated planning for development and use of water resources, environmental integrity of the basin, impact of climate change, transboundary water sharing, irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, drinking water and sanitation, hydropower, industry, ground water, water rights and obligations, sustainable water infrastructure, water-related hazards, quality management, awareness and research, conservation measures, legal framework and capacity building of water sector institutions.

The policy recognizes the need to provide at least 10 per cent of the federal Public Sector Development Program to the water sector, gradually increasing it to 20pcby 2030.The provinces will also increase expenditure on the water sector as total allocation of Rs145 billion, 7pc of the combined federal and provincial development budget for 2017-18, was inadequate to address the challenges.

Under the policy, water losses currently estimated at 46 MAF a year have to be cut by 33pc by 2030 through canal and watercourse lining. Water efficiency will also be increased by 30pc by 2030 through improved technologies like drip and sprinkler irrigation and more realistic water pricing policy.

 

‘Dire consequences’ if govt. fails start Bhasha in 2018

on 02/12/2017

Chairman WAPDA warns of mounting water shortage in Pakistan

Chairman WAPDA has said that unfortunately the country has failed to undertake any major water reservoir project which has resulted in severe water shortage. He has warned of dire consequences in case the government failed to start Diamer-Bhasha dam in 2018.

Diamer-Bhasha is required to be inaugurated in 2018 otherwise it will have dire consequences for the country, he said while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources.

Also, Federal Minister for Water Resources Javed Ali Shah along with the Chairman WAPDA apprised the committee of the efforts made to complete ongoing projects within given time frame. They highlighted the problems in timely completion of the projects.

Chairman WAPDA informed the committee that, in 2016, international donors had refused to fund Diamer Bhasha dam as according to them it was in a disputed area. The total cost of the project is $14 billion and WAPDA alone cannot finance it.

He told the committee that during Shaukat Aziz tenure, the NTCD was separated from WAPDA. It was a wrong decision. Now WAPDA is generating electricity at one location while the NTDC is laying transmission line at other location.

He said that the PPIB was working on hydle power generation projects and it was required to be with WAPDA but it was working under the control of Power Division.

The committee expressed concern that the mandate of some departments like NTDC has been assigned to the Ministry of Energy after a change in nomenclature of concerned ministries which could affect their overall performance as they were interlinked with the Ministry of Water Resources.

Chairman WAPDA informed that financial close for Dasu hydel project has been achieved and the work on the project is in progress. The project will cost $4 billion to $5 billion and the World Bank has agreed to fund 20 percent cost of the project, he added.

He further said that first unit of Golan Gol will come online by December 2017 while Tarbela 4 will start power generation by February 2018.

The committee was informed of the dormancy of the water resource ministry which according to the officials has made no improvement and is like frozen in the past. No recruitment was made on important posts lying vacant.

The committee acknowledged viability of Neelum Jhelum Hydel Project and 4th Extension project of Tarbela and urged upon the need for their early completion in order to meet the requirement of electricity in Pakistan.

The committee recommended that the ministry may ensure completion of all projects within given timeframe as it had been observed that unnecessary delays escalated costs of the projects which caused huge losses to national exchequer.

Dam compensation funds

on 04/04/2017

Transfer sparks controversy

GILGIT: A controversy is brewing up over funding of compensation to those affected by construction of Diamer- Bhasha dam. With over Rs50 billion disbursed so far, district administration is being accused of depositing the funds in private banks, instead of official Nation al Bank (NBP), with the intention of maximising interest. The allegation has been rejected by concerned officials. It was claimed that despite Ministry of Water and Power deirectives against the practice, district administration has deposited compensation funds in private banks, delaying its disbursement to pocket interest on billions of rupees. According to the Ministry, compensation is being paid to affectees from a loan and it must be kept in a profitable account at NBP to facilitate the government to pay the mark-up to institutions it  borrowed money from. Administration has been keeping funds in private banks despite the fact that people frequently hold demonstrations in Diamer in protest against non-payment of compensation for their land being affected by the project. Sarzameen Khan, a National Assembly member from Kohistan, described it as `fraudulent and unlawful tactics` of Diamer administration and said the matter would be taken up in assembly’s next session. He said, different tribes in Diamer were fighting each other because of issues related to the land being affected and they were being deprived of their rights by the administration. `There are reports that Deputy Commissioner’s office is always crowded by employees of private banks,` he said. He suggested forming a parliamentary committee to investigate the matter besides auditing project’s accounts. It`s unfortunate that vested interests are playing with the $14bn project, he added. When contacted, a spokesman for Gilgit Baltistan government said that the compensation amount, running into billions, had been shifted to private banks on public demand. He said private banks had provided jobs to over 200 local youths, adding that the district administration had used the interest on development projects. The spokesman said that over Rs50bn had been paid to affected people. Despite that Rs7-8bn are lying in private banks which would be used to pay compensation after land disputes among tribes were settled. He said keeping a huge amount in NBP was not as profitable as in private banks and added that interest on the amount was solely used for public interest projects.