EDITORIAL: The saga of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHPP) appears set to remain a never-ending one, as a meeting chaired by the prime minister and held to look into the recent challenges it has faced has brought to light some disturbing facts.
It emerged that the project – which has remained off-grid since May 2 due to defects in its headrace tunnel (HRT) causing financial losses worth Rs55 billion per annum – had first experienced a significant decrease in power generation back in 2021 due to an abnormal drop in pressure in the HRT, but this was completely ignored, and no repair work was initiated to correct the defects that had developed.
Even more disturbingly, it also appears that even before construction on the project had commenced, numerous geophysical and seismic factors were overlooked, which, had they been taken into account, would have indicated to the NJHPP’s builders the need for adequate concrete lining for its HRT. That could have gone a long way in helping prevent the current problems the project is afflicted with.
Even a brief study of the history of the 969MW NJHPP will tell us that it is one marred by numerous delays, financial hurdles, technical challenges, and incompetence in its construction and maintenance. It would be pertinent to recall that the PM had ordered an inquiry headed by senior bureaucrats into its latest shutdown, which, it should be noted, had occurred less than a year after the NJHPP had been made operational following an earlier closure that had occurred in July 2022 and which had lasted till September 2023.
And that first shutdown, in turn, had happened just four years after the project’s long-delayed completion, at which point its cost was running into billions of rupees. It should also be pointed out that earlier in the month, reports in the media had indicated that major design flaws had been identified in the project, as well as defects in its construction processes, along with geographical faults that went unheeded by the relevant authorities, including the builders, Wapda and the Neelum-Jhelum Company.
Given the incompetence, ineptitude and complete lack of care in operating a project of such vital importance, it is all too easy to agree with the PM’s assertion that there has been “criminal negligence” in the way this project has been handled over the years.
However, one wonders how he can ignore the fact that the two largest parties forming the ruling coalition, including his own PML-N, were in charge for much of the period of its construction that was marred by huge time and cost overruns, as well as design and construction flaws.
It should also be recalled that back in 2018, when the PML-N was in power, the then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had turned down a request from the planning secretary to fix responsibility for the delay and cost escalations that the project had suffered.
Furthermore, requests for determining culpability for mismanagement and alleged corruption in the project’s construction were also ignored. In fact, during the PML-N’s 2013-18 tenure, the project cost increased from Rs274.9 billion to Rs506.8 billion – a whopping escalation of 84 percent according to project documents.
While the PM has ordered officials to complete the investigation into the NJHPP’s recent closure and apportion blame for the defects in its design, the fact remains that we need a more far-reaching, impartial inquiry that delves deep into the numerous tribulations it has encountered ever since its inception.
Any such inquiry, however, is bound to throw up facts that the ruling dispensation will find very uncomfortable to stomach. Nevertheless, it is only through such an investigation that accountability can be ensured and lessons learnt for the future, even if there is little chance of such an in-depth scrutiny being initiated any time soon.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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