With the TBMs in hand for a year and no sign of their installation and usage, billions of rupees of taxpayer money seem to have gone down the drain. PHOTO: FILE
The government has not yet deployed tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to expedite excavation for the Neelum Jhelum hydropower project, contrary to claims made by senior officials in meetings on the project’s progress.
This puts a large question mark on the assertion that the TBMs were acquired to help complete the project ahead of India’s Kishanganga Dam, as was claimed earlier, and give substance to allegations that the procurements were made only to mint money.
In a recent briefing to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, officials of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Company admitted that the TBMs have not be installed so far due to “financial constraints”.
The admission comes on the heels of a letter written to the premier by Transparency International Pakistan in November, which alleged that around $74 million were received in kickbacks in the procurement of the TBMs by some officials involved in the project. Malik Amjad Noon, former chairman of the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission, had also reported to the government that massive kickbacks had been received in the procurement of the TBMs. He had estimated that roughly $66 million were received by unscrupulous elements.
The TBMs had been obtained at a cost of roughly $94 million, and the machines had arrived in Pakistan exactly a year ago. Interestingly, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had inaugurated the deployment of the TBMs on the worksite himself, in August last year.
A presentation given to the premier showed that the total cost of the TBMs and generators was roughly Rs27 billion, which comes to around 15% of the additional costs incurred on the project. Approved at an initial estimated cost of Rs85 billion, the project’s total cost has shot up to Rs275 billion over the years.
The premier was informed, in the presentation, that “the Tunnel Boring Machines have not yet been deployed because of [a] lack of sustained availability of funds”. Wapda requested, during the presentation, that the government immediately arrange Rs24 billion in bridge financing for the current fiscal year. “In the absence of this arrangement, the TBMs cannot be made operational and work on the project will have to be suspended with serious consequences,” the presentation states.
During the same presentation, Wapda admitted that it was facing a $1.5 billion financing gap. Meanwhile, willing lenders are also threatening to stop disbursements due to the non-finalisation of a loan from China worth $448 million, and a $100 million loan from the Abu Dhabi Fund.
Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Company Chief Executive Officer Lt Gen (retd) Zubair Ahmad has claimed that one of the major reasons for the escalation in cost was the procurement of TBMs and changes in the design for the project. In the past, Ahmed was also one of those who claimed that Pakistan could not complete work on the Neelum Jhelum project ahead of India’s construction of the Kishanganga Dam without the TBMs. He had claimed that the TBMs would help recoup time lost by Pakistan by two years, and that the project would be completed by 2016.
However, by wasting one complete year with the TBMs in hand and no sign of their installation and usage, the move to purchase the expensive machinery seems like an exercise in wasting billions of rupees of taxpayer money.
Despite repeated attempts, Ahmad was not available for comments. Wapda spokesperson Mohammad Abid Rana had promised to respond to a set of questions sent to him. However, he had not responded by the filing of this story.
According to an official who attended the meeting, the premier has been assured by Wapda that the TBMs will be installed within a fortnight. However, the official added, the deadline is likely to be missed yet again.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (5)
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naresh, one TBM costs 94 Million. But the entire project consits of purchase of multipel TBM and other associated items.
However, if you want to know how to get kick back of 74 million out of US 94 million, please contact the politicians for exact modalities
English elits in Islamic Pakistan are at work!
Points from the Article which need a bit of thought and a lot of explanation :
The TBMs had been obtained at a cost of roughly $94 million,
The admission comes on the heels of a letter written to the premier by Transparency International Pakistan in November, which alleged that around $74 million were received in kickbacks in the procurement of the TBMs by some officials involved in the project
He had estimated that roughly $66 million were received by unscrupulous elements.
Can anybody explain how it is possible to receive Kickbacks amounting to US$ 66 to 74 Million when the total cost is US$ 94 Million . Cheers
Can some1 confirm if our official have not taken kick back from India to delay ths project thus depriving us of water rights.