Even after the passage of several years, the project is yet to rid itself of controversy PHOTO: FILE
If one were to dissect exactly what Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif said regarding the audit report on the Nandipur power project, we would be inclined to blame either the PML-N’s predecessor in government, the PPP, or plain misfortune. The report, prepared by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), is one of two separate audits ordered by the government into the Nandipur power project. The AGP report is yet to be made public, but Mr Asif said it would be — after the prime minister has had a look at it. The other report is still being prepared. Hence, we don’t have much to go on except for what the minister said during his recent press conference.
The Nandipur power project, initiated during the PPP’s tenure, was supposed to be the shining light of Pakistan attempting to overcome its power woes. What we got instead was cost escalation, controversy, allegations of corruption and now talks of converting it to gas so that its power capacity can be enhanced. No one has denied that there was a massive delay in the project with the Nandipur ‘file’ sitting on the law ministry’s desk for ages, eventually leading to colossal losses. Has anyone been asked to provide an explanation for this? Even after the passage of several years, the project is yet to rid itself of controversy. Words such as gross incompetence, financial irregularities, unsuitable appointments and unskilled engineers take the fore whenever it is discussed. Mr Asif is looking at just one side of the story — that its cost will remain around the Rs58 billion mark. While he is trying to get away with blaming the PPP, the fact is that the PML-N is guilty of the same thing the PPP was — an inability to keep promises made during election time. Four years after Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif wrote an article in this very newspaper on the Nandipur fiasco, we are still on the same subject of incompetence and cost escalations. The PML-N cannot blame the federal government anymore like it has in the past — it has to remember that it is the federal government now. Well into its third year in power, there seems to be no resolution to the Nandipur fiasco.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2015.
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