Cost overruns: WAPDA presents bloated cost of Kachhi Canal Project

Delays and tripling of costs lead to speculations about corruption and mismanagement.

ISLAMABAD:

The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has sought an extra Rs11 billion in funds to carryout work on the much-delayed Kachhi Canal project, amid suspicions of massive corruption and mismanagement that led to a three-fold increase in the cost of the project.

The execution agency placed the demand in front of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, according to officials. The demand came despite earlier commitments by Wapda to complete the project with Rs6 billion in additional costs that the previous government provided to the authority in the previous fiscal year.

Approved in September 2003, at a cost of less than Rs20 billion by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec), the project still remains incomplete. Wapda has already sought a three-fold increase in the project cost pitching it at Rs59.4 billion, which the Planning Ministry’s experts believed was unjustified.

According to the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2013-14, the execution agency has so far spent Rs34.7 billion and needed Rs24.7 billion more to complete the project. For this year, an amount of Rs5.3 billion has been allocated.

The federal government has already constituted a panel to investigate causes of delay and allegations of corruption in the execution of the Kachhi Canal Project. Ecnec – the country’s highest project approval authority, deferred the revised PC-I (a document stating financial and engineering details of the project) of the Kachhi Canal Project until the committee probes all issues pertaining to the project.

In a meeting of the probe committee, which met the other day under Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Wapda authorities sought Rs11 billion more funds instead of giving any justification for the delay, the sources said. However, the government remained non committal to the demand and instead has asked Army’s Engineer in Chief to first verify the claims of additional cost, according to the sources.

The Planning Minister also decided to first visit the construction site to find whether any civil work has been completed so far.

The main 500-kilometer canal with a capacity of 6,000 cusecs of water is under construction. The project had to be completed by December 2013, but so far, not even half the work is complete. The completion of the project will irrigate 713,000 acres of land. In Phase-I, 102,000 acres in Dera Bugti will be irrigated, according to the Ministry of Planning.

The Planning Minister was said to be furious over unjustified cost escalation and took serious notice of mismanagement and delays during the last eight years in completion of the project. The minister asked that project completion must be expedited and monthly progress review will be held in this regard.

The minister said that he himself will monitor the progress of work and no delay will be tolerated at any cost. He said no lapses can be tolerated in water development projects and that there will be a policy of zero tolerance on wastage of resources.

The Kachhi canal is not the only project facing delays and massive cost escalation. The 969 megawatts Neelum Jhelum hydro power project is another such example whose cost increased from Rs81 billion to Rs321 billion including interest during construction. Despite identifying culprits responsible for increase in cost of the project, the government has not yet removed them from their positions and they were calling the shots, the sources said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th,  2013.

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