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.