The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved the Diamer-Bhasha dam at a cost of $12.6 billion, whose feasibility study has been prepared by a consortium with one participating firm already blacklisted by the World Bank.
Federal Minister for Water and Power Pervez Ashraf at press briefing on the project said that the dam would generate 4500 MW electricity. He said that the government would open bids for pre-qualification by November 30. The World Bank and Asian Development would not be financing this project as it would be located in what they consider ''disputed territory''.
" I do not see any problem in financing, as any firm which will get $5 billion contract for construction work, supply of equipment and hydraulic gates, will definitely get access to credit financing agencies," said Wapda Chairman Shakeel Durani while talking to Business Recorder. Replying to a question he said that Wapda had also received very encouraging response from China and Middle East.
He said that acquiring land and resettlement plan of Basha dam would need Rs 60 billion, and Rs 90 million would be spent on shifting the relics to a museum. He said that 30,000 relics had been identified at the place of the dam. He further said that limited companies would be chosen for the project.
Earlier, Asharaf said that Ecnec has also approved a comprehensive plan for the displaced families, who would be provided compensation. He said that the project would be completed in seven years. The Minister further said that the project would benefit the country by providing electricity worth $1.5 billion per annum. He said that agriculture sector would get the benefit of $500 million annually.
The Minister said that the project would help benefit the agriculture sector and there would be no power shortage in the country after completion of the project. He said that Arab countries and European countries were also interested in the project, and wanted to participate in the consortium for completion of the project. He said that Pakistan requires $1.5 billion per annum financing for the project.
He said that 28,000 persons would be affected and would be compensated. He said that Ecnec also decided that both North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Northern Areas would get royalty as per their land rights. He said that representatives of NWFP and Northern Areas had agreed on the formula.
The Minister said that the government had chalked out a comprehensive strategy to initiate projects in the power sector. The government would enhance power generation capacity to 33,000 MW by 2015 and would require $30 billion investment to make it a reality.
He said that the public sector would provide $10 billion, whereas $20 billion was expected to be generated from the private sector. He said that the country would need 116,000 MW electricity by 2030, as demand for power was increasing by 7-8 percent annually.
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