PML-N MPA objects to rate offered for Dasu dam land

Deputy speaker says issue to be discussed separately

PESHAWAR: The multibillion dollar Dasu hydropower project echoed in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday, with a lawmaker raising objections over the rate offered to people to purchase land for the dam.

The 4,320 megawatt Dasu HPP worth about $4.5 billion is one of the top-priority hydropower projects under the 2013 Power Policy and Vision-2025. It is being constructed in Kohistan district.

The people affected by the project have been demanding of the government to carry out a fresh survey for the determination of prices of their land and properties in line with the current market trends.

PML-N MPA Abdul Sattar who was elected from Kohistan, while raising the issue on the floor of the house, said: “The federal government has been acquiring land for the project through the provincial government, but the price at which the land is being purchased by the district commissioner of Kohistan is not acceptable to the people.”



“The people of my area are not ready to sell their land at the price being offered by the district government for the dam,” Sattar said and demanded Deputy Speaker Dr Mehar Taj Roghani, who was in the chair, to constitute a house committee with a view to resolving the issue.

He said the federal government had transferred money to the K-P government to acquire land for the project, but he added that the money has not been distributed among land owners.

After hearing the lawmaker’s argument, the speaker ruled that the house would hold debate over the issue for which a separate day would be fixed.

Responding to the objections raised by the MPA, K-P Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman told the house that the provincial government was serving as mere ‘conduit’ because the project is being executed by the federal government.

“If the federal government gives us Rs20 million per kanal, we transfer the money at the same rate to the people,” he said and assured the lawmaker that he would accompany Sattar in resolving the issue.

Meanwhile, JUI-F lawmaker Shah Hussain drew the house’s attention towards the Insaf Food Security Programme (IFSP) under which the K-P government was providing subsidised wheat seeds to farmers in K-P.

Hussain accused the provincial government of abandoning the programme midway despite the fact that 91,769 wheat bags were purchased and transported to districts by the agriculture department.

PTI lawmaker Zareen Zia, while responding to the MPA’s objections, said the chief minister had approved the summary for the distribution of seeds already purchased for the purpose.

She said: “The agriculture department will move the summary in two days to the chief minister for approval after which wheat seeds will be distributed among farmers.”

Meanwhile, the house passed the K-P Boilers and Pressure Vessels Act-2016.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2016.