Minister for Water and Power Naveed Qamar on Thursday said Rs 100 million has been allocated in the annual PSDP 2011-12 for the Kurram Tangi Dam.
During question hour, he informed the House that 210 acres of land had been acquired at Rs 80,000 per acre for the project. He said funds from USAID will be used to construct the dam. He said as per the approved PC-I, a three-year land acquisition period has been allocated for the project. However, he said, this was subject to the provision of the budget and the security arrangements made by the political agent.
He told the House legislation will be passed to punish those pilfering electricity. He said action had began and over 2,000 FIRs had been registered against those involved in power theft. Qamar told the house Pakistan plans to import 1,000 MW of electricity from Iran and a Malaysian company hado offered to set up a power plant in Iran with a 3,000 MW capacity for transmission to Pakistan via Quetta.
He said alternative energy sources were being used and 6 MW of wind energy had been installed by Zorlu Energi Pakistan Limited had been connected to the national grid in the first phase of a 56.4 MW project. He said 34 MW biomass and biogas plants were also operational at Dera Ismail Khan and Jhang.
Minister for Religious Affairs Khurshid Shah on behalf of Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources informed the House that the government was trying to provide gas to small towns and cities with over 1,000 houses and had set up 29,000 kilometers of pipeline in the last three years at a cost of Rs 19 billion. Similarly, the government planned to import gas from other countries cover the supply- demand gap. Senators from Balochistan staged a token walkout from the House over the non-fulfillment of the Balochistan quota in Water and Power Development Authority.
