The Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reform was informed on Thursday that two power projects based on liquefied natural gas would start supplying 1,200 megawatts of electricity next year.
Briefing the committee that met at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Colonel (Retired) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, a senior official of the Ministry of Water and Power said the two power projects being developed in Balloki and Haveli Bahadurshah would start producing 1,200MW by the end of 2017.
He said 45% of civil work had already been completed and the government had approved and allocated funds for the projects.
Furthermore, he told the committee that 28,000 agriculture tube wells were being provided electricity at subsidised rates in Balochistan. As part of a plan, 140 solar tube well pumps are also being installed to meet irrigation needs of the province.
He revealed that Gwadar city would be provided up to 100MW of electricity this year as negotiations were in final stages with the Iranian government for power supply.
Regarding the resettlement of people displaced by the Mangla Dam extension project, the ministry official said Rs4 billion were required for the purpose.
Responding to a question from a committee member, he said de-silting of Mangla Dam was not possible at this stage. Giving details of water projects, he said Darawat dam in Jamshoro district would be completed by June-end as 98% physical work had been completed. Satpara dam would be ready next year that will provide 17MW to Skardu.
Physical work on the Rainee canal has been completed while 87% work on Kachhi canal’s phase-II has been done. The revised cost of this project is Rs102.07 billion. Once completed, it will irrigate 110,000 acres of land in Balochistan.
The committee also adopted a report of a sub-committee that contained all possible solutions and recommendations for controlling erosion in coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan due to sea intrusion. The report would be submitted to the upper house of parliament while its copy would be sent to the Ministry of Planning and Development for incorporation in Vision 2025.
