Neelum Jhelum hydropwer project : ‘Inordinate delay’ to cost dearly, warns watchdog
Despite trebling of the cost, project’s completion date remains ‘uncertain’.
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan’s inability to complete the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP) ahead of India’s Kishanganga dam, despite the cost almost trebling to Rs260 billion, would bring down water availability to the project by 21%, and consequently decrease power generation capacity by 11%.
Despite cost escalation, from initial estimates of Rs95 billion, “the completion date of NJHP is uncertain even after 22 years of approval,” a report by Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission (PMIC) noted.
The watchdog has urged the premier’s office to constitute an inquiry committee to fix responsibility for negligence in a project of strategic nature.
“The inordinate delay has not only caused cost escalation and time overrun, it has placed Pakistan at a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis India,” the report said.
The fate of priority rights over Neelum and Jhelum rivers’ water, for electricity generation, hinges on early completion of the hydropower projects. India is constructing another project, Kishanganga, upstream on the Neelum River.
‘Criminal negligence’
The PMIC report states that Kishangana’s expected completion in 2014 would affect the availability of water to the NJHP between 13 and 21 per cent and reduce the project’s power generation capacity by more than 11%.
The project, designed to produce 969 MWs, was originally approved in December 1989 at an estimated cost of Rs15 billion. An official of the PMIC told The Express Tribune that Wapda, Planning Commission, consultants and Indus River System Authority are responsible for the delay.
The delay is tantamount to “criminal negligence that warrants detailed investigations,” the official said, adding that the project administration now wants to procure tunnel boring machines at “exorbitant rates” by exploiting the Indian factor.
Racing against time
While the PMIC is critical about the present administration, the top bosses of Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Company – an entity established to implement the project, claim they can still complete the project ahead of India.
Lt-Gen (retd) Mohammad Zubair, Chief Executive of NJHC, admitted that the project was facing a two-and-a-half-year delay, citing delay in acquiring land by Azad Jammu and Kashmir government and the 2005 earthquake that altered the project’s design.
Zubair said the administration was in process of procuring a $92 million tunnel boring machine which will advance the work by two years.
An expected earlier completion would also help recover part of escalation cost since the project would generate Rs45 billion worth of electricity in a single year, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2011.
Pakistan’s inability to complete the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHP) ahead of India’s Kishanganga dam, despite the cost almost trebling to Rs260 billion, would bring down water availability to the project by 21%, and consequently decrease power generation capacity by 11%.
Despite cost escalation, from initial estimates of Rs95 billion, “the completion date of NJHP is uncertain even after 22 years of approval,” a report by Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission (PMIC) noted.
The watchdog has urged the premier’s office to constitute an inquiry committee to fix responsibility for negligence in a project of strategic nature.
“The inordinate delay has not only caused cost escalation and time overrun, it has placed Pakistan at a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis India,” the report said.
The fate of priority rights over Neelum and Jhelum rivers’ water, for electricity generation, hinges on early completion of the hydropower projects. India is constructing another project, Kishanganga, upstream on the Neelum River.
‘Criminal negligence’
The PMIC report states that Kishangana’s expected completion in 2014 would affect the availability of water to the NJHP between 13 and 21 per cent and reduce the project’s power generation capacity by more than 11%.
The project, designed to produce 969 MWs, was originally approved in December 1989 at an estimated cost of Rs15 billion. An official of the PMIC told The Express Tribune that Wapda, Planning Commission, consultants and Indus River System Authority are responsible for the delay.
The delay is tantamount to “criminal negligence that warrants detailed investigations,” the official said, adding that the project administration now wants to procure tunnel boring machines at “exorbitant rates” by exploiting the Indian factor.
Racing against time
While the PMIC is critical about the present administration, the top bosses of Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Company – an entity established to implement the project, claim they can still complete the project ahead of India.
Lt-Gen (retd) Mohammad Zubair, Chief Executive of NJHC, admitted that the project was facing a two-and-a-half-year delay, citing delay in acquiring land by Azad Jammu and Kashmir government and the 2005 earthquake that altered the project’s design.
Zubair said the administration was in process of procuring a $92 million tunnel boring machine which will advance the work by two years.
An expected earlier completion would also help recover part of escalation cost since the project would generate Rs45 billion worth of electricity in a single year, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2011.