By Ijaz Kakakhel in Daily Times, January 14, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project Director Gen (r) Zubair on Tuesday assured the Senate Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan that the power project would be completed by December 2016.
He said the issue with Neelum-Jhelum project was that total foreign currency component (FCC) requirement of the project as per approved PC-I was $1.585 billion, adding that the donors of the project had agreed to finance $1.110 billion against provision of PC-I for FCC. However, a gap of $475 million exits for which the government of Pakistan is exploring new avenues to fill this gap. Timely completion of the project is subject to sustained cash flow. Apart from financial issue, physical progress of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project is about 70 percent,” he added.
The committee was informed that the NJHP was a mega project of immense national importance with installed capacity of 969 megawatts (MW) and would generate 5.15 billion units of electricity, which will give government a revenue of Rs 50 billion per annum.
“The project was initiated on January 30, 2008 and would be completed by the end of 2016 if cash flow provided. The work was awarded to a joint venture of Chinese companies. For the construction of the dam at Nauseri, Neelum River was successfully diverted through a diversion tunnel (505 metres). Tunnels excavation is 54.11km against total length of 68.6km. Powerhouse and transformer hall excavation has been completed 100 percent while draft tubes and penstocks are being installed,” he said.
The project director further told the committee that overall physical progress of the project was 68.50 percent and overall financial progress of the project was 60.50 percent, adding that total cost of the project as per second revised PC-I was Rs 274.88 billion and up till now Rs 166.300 billion have been consumed.
Gen Zubair said that there were some issues between the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and the federal government. The AJK officials informed the committee that they demanded share in net hydel profit as was the case with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Tarbela Dam. The issue still persists and negotiations were in progress in this regard.
Gen Zubair also informed that after producing electricity, it will be connected with national grid station at Gujranwala. However, the committee and the AJK officials were of the view that why power supply was not provided to AJK first and then the surplus may be provided to national grid station. The AJK chief secretary said that in such a way the line losses will be minimised, adding that a grid station was already established in AJK near the dam site.
The project director also briefed the committee that one Chinese engineer along with three Pakistani workers died at the site. “The Chinese companies have admitted that it was fault of the company and the workers would be compensated and will be given Rs 0.5 million each,” he said. However, the committee expressed serious reservations over the amount of compensation and suggested that higher compensation would be paid according to international rules. Gen Zubair assured the committee that the issue will be reviewed, adding that in case of any possibility, compensation will be increased.
About the rehabilitation activities carried out after the severe floods in different areas of AJK, the committee was informed that large numbers of hydro infrastructures were established in AJK. The committee also recommended for initiation of flood mitigation in AJK to avoid such huge losses.http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/14-Jan-2015/neelum-jehlum-project-to-be-completed-by-dec-2016
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