83.4 MW Kurram Tangi hydropower project: Stakeholders’ attitude pushes project into deep water

* Completion of the Rs 59.561 billion project delayed for an indefinite period

ISLAMABAD: The non-serious attitude of the stakeholders of the power sector has pushed 83.4 megawatts (MW) Kurram Tangi hydropower project with accumulated cost of Rs 59.561 billion into deep water, delaying the completion of the said mega project for an indefinite period.

The initiator of the said million-dollar hydropower project in North Waziristan, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and financial resource departments of the Federation were reluctant to clarify the reasons of the delay for commencement of the project, however WAPDA authorities linked the delay to unavailability of funds.

Interestingly, the planning wing of WAPDA had claimed the PC-1 cost of the said project up to Rs 17.205 billion and after detailed review by another major stakeholder of the Federation, the Planning Commission endorsed the document and Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved it in 2005. However, because of long delaying in the project, the actual cost of Kurram Tangi shot up to Rs 59.561 billion, showing an enormous increase of 246.18 percent, while the authority linked this huge numeric game with certain factors including worst law and order situation in the surrounding areas of the project site, some technical amendments in the dam’s infrastructure design, enhancement in storage capacity and some others.

Member of the parliamentary panel of the Senate, Senator Zahid Khan informed this scribe, that the authority has yet to settle the land acquisition issue with the residents of tribal elders of North Waziristan.

He further said that the parliamentary panel of Senate, which dealt with the water and power sector as well as the finance department, summoned WAPDA Chairman Shakeel Durani and senior officials of the Planning Commission and finance division on January 19 to probe the actual reason of delay in commencement of the said mega hydropower project.

According to sources in the Planning Commission, expenditures of WAPDA in the name of Kurram Tangi hydropower project were recorded at Rs 3.624 billion against accumulated allocation of Rs 6.14 billion in the development budget, Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) since last six fiscal years (FY) 2006-07 to ongoing FY 2011-12.

Further details of the development budget revealed that WAPDA used Rs 50 million till end of June 2006, federal government allocated Rs 2.7 billion in PSDP 2006-07 for the said project and expenditure of the authority for Kurram Tangi hydropower project recorded the full amount of allocation for FY 2006-07, Rs 2.847 billion had been allocated for 83.4 MW hydropower project in PSDP 2007-08, while WAPDA put forward the expenditure details of Rs 874 million till end of June 2008.

Interestingly, the finance managers of the present democratic regime dropped the project from PSDP 2009-10, however the authority squandered Rs 56.300 million.

The federal government once again made allocation for WAPDA under the head of planned hydropower project in North Waziristan at Rs 576.176 million in PSDP 2010-11 and Rs 100 million for FY 2011-12, however no single penny was released for the said project.

A senior official of WAPDA, while talking to Daily Times linked the base issue of land acquisition for 83.4 MW Kurram Tangi hydropower project with availability of fund.

He said that two joint ventures including LIMAK (Turkish)-Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and HAMBO (Korean)-Sh Abdul Razaq and Co (SARCO) Pakistan, while an individual contractor DESCON has been qualified for tendering after completion of pre-qualification phase, adding, “Tendering for construction of Kurram Tangi will be held in March 2012,” he maintained.

WAPDA claimed in respect of 83.4 MW hydropower project, feasibility study, detailed engineering design and tender documents were completed in July with an elevated height to enhance the storage capacity, while project director has been appointed under general manager (North) for construction of the project. The authority has paid Rs 17 million to District Coordination Officer (DCO) and District Officer Revenue (DOR) Banu so far for acquiring land and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government assured full support along with all out security arrangements to ensure security of all stakeholders during construction of this mega project