Raghib Abbas appointed new WAPDA chief

He faces daunting task of completing delayed water projects.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has approved the appointment of Syed Raghib Abbas Shah as chairman of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). The incoming chairman will face a daunting task of completing major water projects to deal with issues of scarcity.

Shah was working as Wapda’s member (water) and was also holding the slot of acting chairman after the tenure of former chairman Shakeel Durrani ended on September 7.

Shah hails from the province of Sindh while Durrani was from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Earlier in July, the Ministry of Water and Power sent a summary to the prime minister, seeking extension of one year for Durrani, who completed five years of service on September 7. However, the premier rejected the proposal.

The slot of Wapda chairman, believed to be very lucrative for retired bureaucrats, was for five years and an extension of one year was not possible. To implement this, the government needed to issue a presidential ordinance to amend the rules to grant extension to Durrani.

In October 2010, the Ministry of Water and Power had worked out a plan to reduce the term of Wapda chairman from five to three years to show the door to Durrani and pave the way for outgoing water and power secretary Shahid Rafi to take the helm after retirement. However, the plan did not materialise.

Shah, the new chairman, will be facing a daunting task of speeding up work on major dams, which has been delayed for the last several years. Among these, an important project is the 969-megawatt Neelum Jhelum hydropower project, which needs to be completed on time to secure water rights over Neelum Jhelum River. The delay in the project has taken its cost to Rs274.8 billion compared to earlier estimates of Rs84.5 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2012.