Dasu hydropower project incident: Govt, Chinese co yet to reach consensus on compensation package

ISLAMABAD: The Government of Pakistan (GoP) and Chinese company M/s China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) have reportedly not yet evolved a consensus on compensation package ranging from $ 37 million to $ 76 million meant for the deceased and injured Chinese working on Dasu hydropower project, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

Construction work on the project was suspended on July 14, 2021 in the aftermath of tragic terrorist attack on Chinese convoy of M/s CGGC (main works Contractor) wherein 14 people (10 Chinese, four Pakistanis) lost their lives and 27 people (26 Chinese, one Pakistani) were injured.

A sub-committee comprising officials of different ministries and Wapda is working on the compensation package. In first meeting of sub-committee held on October 22, 2021 different options to workout rational compensation package were deliberated. It was decided that based on the discussions held, Wapda will submit detailed working in next meeting of sub-committee. During the second and third meeting of sub-committee held on November 26 & 29, 2021 respectively Wapda presented its working which was deliberated upon by the committee members.

Dasu hydropower project will have total installed capacity of 4,320 MW with 12 generating units. Project will be implemented in two stages. Each stage with 6 units will have capacity of 2,160 MW. About 12 billion units per annum would be generated on completion of Stage-1.

Wapda has held numerous rounds of discussion with M/s CGGC, high ups of CGGC International and Chinese ambassador in the aftermath of July 14 incident

wherein matters regarding compensation, security arrangements and commercial/ contractual issues were discussed at length.

Regarding security arrangements, consensus on the enhanced security measures/plan was developed and improvements to strengthen the security made.

The sources said that the contractor for main works, M/s CGGC resumed work at site after l03 days - from October 25, 2021 albeit in a phased manner and is expected to get fully mobilized during first quarter of 2022.

Project was delayed due to non-availability of land as District Administration could not acquire the land as the affectees kept demanding an increase in land rates approved by the ECNEC in August 2015.

During l4th Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting held in March 2019, the issue was ultimately resolved as PSC endorsed the proposal of enhancement of land rates (40% flat increase for all land categories) submitted by a committee under Commissioner Hazara Division. The enhanced land rates were approved by the ECNEC and Cabinet Division in October-November 2019.

The government has disbursed Rs 17.64 billion to affectees against acquired land. Remaining land was 866 acres, with the majority comprised of land rationalized due to change in alignment of KKH-01 and KKH-02. Revenue record preparation/ GIS verification of rationalized land is in progress.

The sources said disbursement of compensation package is moving at very slow pace. At present, Rs 107 million against 31 files has been transferred in DC account whereas only Rs 38 million against 11 files has been disbursed to the affectees.

On December 16, 2021, Federal Minster for Water Resources, MoonisElahi chaired a meeting of PSC, which was attended by high level officials of World Bank, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ministry of Energy, and Wapda. The committee was briefed that 4185 out of 5051 acres of land has been successfully acquired by the district administration and land acquisition collector Dasu, for the project.

The committee discussed update on transmission line required during construction - to start from Dubai Khwar to Dasu.

The committee directed to complete the acquisition of remaining 866 acres, up to June 30, 2022. The representatives of World Bank also expressed their satisfaction that the project authorities and district administration have removed the bottlenecks in resuming the work at Dasu HPP, in the aftermath of the security incident of July 14, 2021.

The committee took notice of the pending resettlement dues of affectees of Dasu. The minister for Water Resources directed the district administration and Wapda to resolve the issue within the period of three months.

Elahi also directed Wapda to ensure fool proof security arrangement in collaboration with relevant stakeholders at Dasu Project site. The minister maintained that the rightful demands of the local residents of district Kohistan should be met on immediate basis, in accordance with the relevant rules and policies.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021