Tag Archives: WAPDA

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.

 

Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project turns Online

on 24/05/2018

Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project has started providing electricity to the national grid on trial basis. The first unit was supposed to contribute 60MW electricity to the system and to generate electricity to its full capacity to the tune of 242MW in initial two days.

The project has four units with cumulative generation capacity of 969-MW. The first unit has started electricity generation followed by the second, third and fourth units at one month interval respectively.

Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project is an engineering marvel with 90% of the project being underground in the high mountain areas. The project consists of three main components i.e. a dam, water-way system comprising 52-km long tunnels and an underground power house. The project will provide about five billion low-cost hydel electricity to the national grid every year. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs.55 billion.

For optimal utilisation of water and hydropower resources in the country, WAPDA has been implementing a two-pronged strategy for the purpose. Under the strategy, not only the under-construction projects are being completed in the shortest possible time but new projects are also being initiated in both water and hydropower sectors. WAPDA is trying its best to award contracts for Mohmand Dam and Diamer Basha Dam within a year to supplement significantly towards existing water storage and hydropower generation capacities in the country.

 

Work on Bhasha Dam likely to begin in Aug 2018

on 03/01/2018

Prime Minister Shahid Khagan Abbasi has approved a summary relating to PC-1, financial arrangements and the proposed plan for launching civil work on 4,500MW Diamer Basha dam project, claims Wapda chairman.

After getting the final approval, Wapda has started the required paperwork before initiating the bidding process and launching civil work on the project in August this year.`We had recently sent a summary to the effect and the prime minister approved it.Since we will require next three to six months in completing the bidding process for hiring consultants and contractors, I am keen on launching civil work in August next year, ` Wapda Chairman Muzammil Hussain told media.

The project continued to be delayed for the last many years due to funding and land acquisition issues. The groundbreaking [ceremony] of the project had been performed in 2006 by the then president Pervez Musharraf.

`Funding and land acquisition delayed the project. We faced a delay of almost 11years because of Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding the funding arrangement of $14 billion. And finally the ADB wrote a letter to us last year, stating that the project cannot be launched in the disputed territory, ` he said. Hussain said Wapda briefed the ADB team that $14bn was not a big issue since the authority would require funds (approximately) $7bn for the dam portion alone.

‘We told them that we will be requiring just a billion dollar a yearfrom ADB, and rest of the money including $4bn for power house, can be arranged by us through other resources including commercial financing and equity. Since they were unable to understand our point of view we finally got rid of them after China assured us to fund the project under CPEC ‘he said.

Later, China imposed harsh conditions and Wapda refused to accept them.`I refused to give ownership and operation & maintenance (O&M) of the project to the Chinese. So we have now decided to launch and completed major part of the project on our own, ` the chairman said.

He said 85 per cent of land acquisition for Basha dam had been completed. `The remaining 15pc relates to the resettlement of the affectees. But the issue is that there is no land available further. So Wapda has decided to give them sufficient money instead of the land so that they could live wherever they want.

Talking about Mohmand dam, he said the authority was all set to launch civil work on the $3bn project by June or July next year. `It is a very important dam in terms of availability of 1.2MAF water storage, 800MW hydel power generation, availability of water for Peshawar and irrigation of 30,000 acre agriculture land in the area.Moreover, the dam would mitigate the flood chances in Noshehra and Charsadda forever, ` he claimed.

Furthermore, the project involved minimum land acquisition. `The bidding process for hiring consultants has been initiated, as about 15 companies have applied for this. I have planned to get 50 to 55pc of the total cost of the dam from the government. And the rest we will arrange through our resources and commercial financing, ` he said.

NHA’s CPEC projects exempted from import duties

on 02/01/2018

Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved a proposal for the grant of exemption from tax/duties for import of construction material for infrastructure projects of National Highway Authority under the CPEC project.

This exemption would be applicable only to the construction of Sukkur-Multan section of Peshawar to Karachi Motorway project. Sukkur-Multan Motorway, the six-lane, 393km motorway is part of the eastern route of CPEC. It will be completed in 2019 at the cost of Rs294 billion.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired the meeting of ECC at Prime Minister House. ECC also permitted WAPDA to raise financing from banks against the sovereign guarantee of the government of Pakistan (GoP) for the purpose of clearance of arrears of net hydel profits of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and government of Punjab. The WAPDA would raise a loan of Rs70 billion from commercial banks to pay net hydel profit (NHP) along with arrears to KPK and Punjab. Punjab and KP are said to be unhappy on undue delay in clearance of their dues. Since WAPDA is running out of money, it has to raise loans backed by a GoP guarantee from commercial banks. The Finance Division assured to provide the requisite guarantee.

The ECC also approved a proposal for reduction of certain regulatory duties on certain items as proposed by the Federal Board of Revenue.  FBR had moved a summary before the ECC for rationalising 10 percent regulatory (RD) imposed on 1250 KV gas generators. Textile industry complained that they are being used by them to reduce the cost of production of the textile products.

The government has also withdrawn RD on spare parts of the auto sector and tyres. The prices of vehicles tyres have surged from Rs.500 to Rs.5,000 after the imposition of RD. Representatives of Tyres Association stated that vehicles tyres do not fall under the category of luxury items and have become a necessity. ECC approved exemption from relending policy of Government of Pakistan for funds released to State Bank of Pakistan for implementation of Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure Project.

The ECC also approved a proposal of Ministry of National Food Security and Research to allow the governments of Punjab and Sindh to export 1.5 and 0.5 million tons of wheat including wheat products. The export of wheat and wheat products would be completed before the 30th June 2018.

Proposal for exemption from provision of section 113 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 for public sector universities was also approved by the ECC. The proposal of exemption from applicability of section 5A of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 to companies with special agreement with the government of Pakistan was approved by ECC.  ECC also approved a proposal for the procurement of 0.3 MMT of sugar from the surplus stock of the sugar mills, through tendering process and to export the same through international tendering process. The step would enable the mills to procure sugarcane from the growers at the prescribed rate and to ensure timely payments to the farmers.

‘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.