Islamabad:
The Government on Wednesday approved the construction of the DASU hydroelectric project with a 240% higher cost of RS1,74 billion and also decided to build a new border crossing position in Wagah with India.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), which made the decisions also approved the construction of 30 antisemotation positions throughout River Indus and in Baluchistan at a cost of 15 billion rupees.
ECNEC carried out 10 projects for approval that cost RS2.1 billion, including the construction of the DASU hydroelectric project as an additional agenda article. The Vice Prime Minister Ishaq presided over the meeting of the Executive Committee, which has the mandate to approve Mega Development schemes.
Ecnec conditionally approved the DASU project reviewed at a record cost of RS1.7 billion or $ 6.2 billion. Last month, the planning minister had described the cost of an “astronomical increase” of 240%.
Conditional approval has been granted to facilitate loan negotiations with foreign lenders. It was also decided that a helicopter will be acquired under the supervision of the Secretary of the Cabinet for Safe Travel of Chinese Contractors of the Hydropower Dasu project. The committee of a planning commission would still examine the cost of the project, according to officials.
Compared to the original cost, there was a massive jump of RS1.3 billion in the cost of the hydroelectric project with the cost per unit of the cheapest energy generation scheme based on water that now reaches RS8.79. The original cost of the project was RS479 billion.
At the meeting of the Central Development Work Party, the Minister of Planning, Ahsan IQBAL, called a third-party validation of the astronomical increase in the PC-I reviewed.
The planning minister, Ahsan IQBAL, did not comment on the questions about the approval of the DASU hydroelectric project as an additional agenda element and the construction of the new border crossing with India.
The cost of the project of $ 6.2 billion is now almost equal to the cost of $ 6.7 billion to build a karachi railway to Peshawar under the economic corridor of China-Pakistan (CPEC).
The project had been planned to generate 2,160MW of electricity and the government now needs more foreign and local loans. Wapda was in negotiations with the World Bank for a new loan of $ 1 billion. The loan of $ 1 billion will be a combination of expensive and concessional loans. The World Bank has already awarded a loan of $ 517 million for the project.
The government will also obtain a foreign commercial loan of $ 400 million through the guarantees of the World Bank. It will also seek RS350 billion in national commercial loans.
The Government had previously ordered an investigation to determine the reason for the cost climbing, but did not set the responsibility in any individual and pointed entity or figures in the Chinese contractors, WAPDA and the Planning Commission.
The investigation also blamed the local administration of the Kohistan district for a delay in land acquisition. He said the cost increased by RS48 billion due to the best security agreements after two mortal attacks against Chinese contractors. The impact of the security agreement was only 3.8% on the total cost escalation.
The ECNEC approved the construction of a new border crossing in Wagah with India. The Government is already implementing a project with the loan of the Development Bank to build border crossings along the Afghanistan border.
In July last year, the Committee had decided that a similar position would also be built at a key crossing point with the Indian border, Wagah. With a cost of RS95.5 billion, two locations are already being built on the international borders of Torkham and Chaman.
The contract for the Wagah Post will be administered through competitive tenders, according to the decision.
ECNEC had asked the Ministry of Planning to give its recommendation on whether to build the Wagah border crossing site under the government agreement or through international competitive tender. The Committee informed ECNEC that the lessons learned from the existing contract, documentary evidence provided by the FBR, comparative analysis of merits and demerites of the open contract and government to government, the ADB acquisition regulations and the rules of public procurement, it was advisable to grant contract through the competitive tender.
ECNEC also approved the construction of 30 anti -slip control points along River Indus, Hub and Baluchistan with a cost of almost RS15 billion. The Federal Income Board admitted before the ECNEC that conventional anti-contracting methods have failed to obtain results and that the economy maintained the revenue losses of RS750 million due to smuggling.
The project aims to establish digital and mobile application stations (DES), together with improved verification publications, to stop smuggling, improve tax revenues, promote formal trade and strengthen border security through technology -based application. The scope of the work includes the development of 10 des sites in Baluchistan, along with 11 small, 6 media and 3 large sites in designated locations.
ECNEC approved the emergency emergency rehabilitation project of the ECNEC Flood Phase II at a cost of RS12.2 billion. Phase II foresees the restoration and rehabilitation of 146 kilometers long 19 roads in four districts affected by floods.
ECNEC approved a reviewed project for the repair of 100 locomotives at a cost of RS16 billion. He also sanctioned a project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the revised cost of RS113 billion for rural accessibility to markets, education and health facilities, through the rehabilitation of the rural road network, which measures 878 km.
The mangi dam was approved at RS19 billion costs reviewed. The main objective of the project is to reduce the existing deficit in the demand for water that is currently being faced by Quetta City. At present, the estimated availability of drinking water in the Quetta Valley is much lower than the minimum of 15 gallons per capita per day. Adopting water consumption of 20 gallons per capita per day, it is estimated that the current Quetta water requirement is 40.9 mgd (76.0 cusecs). The proposed mangi dam will allow a supply of 8.1 mgd (15.1 CUSECs) to Quetta City.
Ecnec approved the project, namely, the “improvement of the early learning of Sindh through the transformation of the classroom” worth RS46.6 billion. The project is proposed to be financed through the World Bank and the Government of Sindh. The project aims to address the critical gaps on the offer side using a combination of financing based on traditional results and mechanisms based on expenses to improve school availability, teacher assignment and learning results throughout the province.
ECNEC also approved the reinforcement of the 220 KV transmission system network in Islamabad and the Burhan area worth RS11.3 billion. The main objective of the project is to improve the capacity of the national transmission system to eliminate transmission limitations in order to meet the growing load of IESCO load and also for the reliable dispersion of the next generation of the Tarbela 5th Extension project.
