SC transfers dam funds to federation

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has ordered the transfer of funds from "The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund" to the public account of the federation. The fund is currently held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

A three-member SC bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa on October 9 disposed of the application jointly moved by the Government of Pakistan and the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) for transfer the amount deposited in the dam fund to official Wapda's account.

The application stated that the government and Wapda shall utilize the amount so transferred exclusively for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam and Mohmand Dam project.

The 6-page order—penned by CJ Isa and unveiled on October 17—the court noted that upon transfer of the total amount from the dam fund, the account at SBP should be closed.

"A sub-account in the Public Account of the Federation be created or other appropriate measures be taken to enable the said amount to be lent to the best rated private scheduled bank(s) so that mark-up can be earned thereon.

"When any amount is required for the construction of the said dams the amount collected and mark-up accrued thereon should be so utilized," it said.

The order noted that the implementation bench did not undertake any work or ever examined the progress reports submitted by Wapda, according to the record.

"If the implementation bench did not examine the progress reports then their submission is pointless. Moreover, except for one, all the Hon'ble Judges of the implementation bench have since retired and were not replaced by this Court.

"Wapda's counsel also stated that preparation of progress reports consumes time, money and effort. The filing of the progress reports without the same being examined by the implementation bench served no purpose.

The order noted that as per SBP the total collected amount in the fund as on 4 October 2024 was Rs11,475,776,584 and the mark-up earned on it was Rs12,194,306,459.

"The total amount (principal and mark-up) is Rs23,670,083,043. WAPDA's counsel stated that the present projected cost of the said dams is Rs740 billion—Diamer-Bhasha Dam to cost Rs480 billion, and Mohmand Dam to cost Rs260 billion.

"The amount in the said account, therefore, constitutes only 3.2% of the money required to build the said dams, and of such amount the larger portion the government itself has paid in the form of mark-up," it added.