Success of the Indian influence in the World Bank has stymied funding from the World Bank for the strategically crucial Bhasha Dam. The factor seems to have deterred Asian Development Bank from funding the Bhasha Diamer Dam which on completion would produce 4,500 megawatts of electricity. Against this backdrop, an emergency meeting was held in the Ministry of Water and Power chaired by Federal Minister Ahmed Mukhtar in order to explore new avenues for funding.…
Posts published in August 2012
Gikgit: The appointment of Gilgit-Baltistan’s new Inspector General of Police (IGP) has been challenged in court. A petition, filed by former IGP Hussain Asghar and acting IGP Wazir Muhammad Ali Khan, says that Usman Zakria’s appointment as the new IGP deprives many police officials with more seniority than him of their right to promotion. “One of the reasons why we moved against Zakria is that he is junior to many of the police officers serving…
by Mohammad Ashfaq in Dawn,Aug 14 PESHAWAR, Aug 13: Over 600 schools ‘unnecessarily’ pulled down by contractors soon after the Oct 2005 devastating earthquake in Hazara division have been awaiting reconstruction for around seven years, according to the relevant officials. Neither the successive provincial and federal governments allocated any funds for the purpose nor did donors pay any attention towards it. Officials said 612 schools were intact and in usable condition after the 2005 earthquake…
By Khalid Mustafa in the News, Aug 14 ISLAMABAD: The government will construct the Bhasha Dam at any cost on a priority basis and will explore alternative options, including help from China, after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) refused to fund the project, a high-powered meeting attended by the top officials decided on Monday. The $12 billion project has suffered a setback after the ADB reversed its commitment to fund it, as was done by…
By Zafar Bhutta in The Express Tribune, August 14 ISLAMABAD: The government may utilise an option of direct award of contract for the $12 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam with power generation capacity of 4,500 megawatts and select China for the purpose as multilateral donors have backed out and linked the project with a no-objection certificate from India. In a meeting held at the Ministry of Water and Power and chaired by Water and Power Minister Ahmed…
By Khaleeq Kiani in Dawn, Aug 14 ISLAMABAD: The government is contemplating a plan-B to arrange funding for the $12 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam project through bilateral institutions after declining an Asian Development Bank suggestion that Pakistan should secure a no-objection certificate from India to seek multilateral funding for the project. The decision in principle was taken at a meeting presided over by Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar on Monday and attended by…
THE country’s perennial water shortages notwithstanding, there is little evidence of a concerted push by the state towards speeding up projects that could contain the crisis. On Friday, a Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power said that the World Bank would rather fund the Dasu power project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa than the Diamer-Bhasha dam in Gilgit-Baltistan on account of India’s objections rooted in Gilgit-Baltistan’s territorial status. This reported preference appeared acceptable to the presiding…
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has informally announced that it is backing off from its commitment to finance the Bhasha Dam and there is now news that the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project is also in deep financial trouble. This is a serious blow to our efforts to resolve the ongoing power crisis that has afflicted the country and crippled the economy for most of the life of this government. Considering the Bhasha project is now four…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, Aug 13 GILGIT: A year after the Hunza riots, a regional body has demanded that results of the judicial inquiry into the incident be made public and that the responsible people be punished in light of the report. The decision was made during a meeting of members of the regional body, Hunza Qaumi Markah, held to mark the first anniversary of the riots, in which a man and…
GILGIT: Days after electricity was restored in Hunza following a week-long outage, the valley experienced a 30-hour-long outage that ended on Sunday. Locals said they have been outraged by the duration of the outages, which typically exceeds 21 hours a day. Amjad Hussain, a local, said the prolonged outages have wreaked havoc for all businesses and social activities in the valley. He said that patients are suffering as most of the hospitals do not have…
By Zafar Bhutta in The Express Tribune, Aug 12 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has objected to India’s move to fill the controversial Nimoo Bazgo Dam built in Indian-held Kashmir. The upstream hydroelectric plant with a capacity of 45 megawatts (MW) has been built near the Alchi village in Leh district to provide electricity to the Indian army deployed in Kargil. The decision to fill the dam up to capacity will inhibit Pakistan’s water inflow from the River…