The Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power on Friday asked Water and Power Secretary Zafar Mehmood to direct all power distribution companies (DISCOs) to end unscheduled power load-shedding and take action against the officials responsible for unscheduled load-shedding.
The committee, which met here with Zahid Khan in the chair, was briefed about the pace of work on various ongoing projects, including Neelum-Jhelum, Gomal Zam dam, Kurram Tangi dam and Dargai hydropower project.
General (r) Zubair, director of the Neelum-Jhelum hydroelectric project, told the committee that the 969 MW project would complete by mid 2016 with an estimated cost of Rs 275 billion, and would generate Rs 45 billion revenue annually to the national exchequer.
He said that the project was being constructed on run of river and no water would waste. He said the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) had started initial feasibility and design of the project in 1984. However, the design was changed after the major earthquake in 2005 and its reshaping took about two years, he said. He told the committee that Neelum River had already been diverted on October 15, 2011 for the project and dam construction had started on November 11, 2011. Zubair said a total of 59.6 km lengthy tunnels would be constructed and about 23 km of tunnel have been mined. Around 38.2 percent work on tunnels has already been completed. He said that sophisticated Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) had been imported for early completion of the project. He said that the tunnels would be completed in 30 months with the deployment of TBMs as its excavation rates were 12 to 16.5 meter per day.
WAPDA Chairman Shakeel Durrani apprised the committee that the project would recover its cost in five to six years and currently 1100 Chinese workers were working on the project. He said that the Norwegian company had carried out its basic feasibility study. He said that an amount of Rs 57 billion would be raised for the project through surcharge, and Rs 15 to Rs 16 billion had been collected so far. Durrani said that water reservoirs had lost 31 percent storage capacity due to silting and around 0.5 million tons of daily silting was reported in Tarbela. He said Diamer-Bhasha dam was government’s top priority as it would store 8.1 million acres feet water besides generating 4,500 MW cheap hydro electricity.
He said that Dasu dam was also located on the run of the river, and WAPDA had appointed a consultant for its detailed study which would be completed by next year. Consultancy for Munda dam has also been awarded, he said. The committee was informed that Rs 500 million was allocated for Kurram Tangi dam in the current year PSDP and the dam would also irrigate over 16,000 acres barren land of North Waziristan Agency.
Durrani informed the committee that Gomal Zam dam would be commissioned in January next year. However, it would start supply 17.4 MW electricity to national grid station in October.
The meeting was attended by Senators Khalida Parveen, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Hamayun Khan Mandokhel, Nisar Muhammad and Amer Jeet, Water and Power Secretary Zafar Mehmood and other senior officials.
