EDITORIAL: The latest session of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) became an exercise in exposing critical shortcomings and widespread financial mismanagement of major hydropower projects, raising urgent concerns over transparency, accountability and the responsible utilisation of public funds in the energy domain.
Foremost among the projects under scrutiny was the Dasu Hydropower Project, where drastic revisions in project scope, weak oversight mechanisms and significant delays have led to a substantial escalation in costs, prompting serious questions regarding its planning processes and the competence of the executing agencies.
As highlighted during the PAC session, more than a decade after the Dasu project’s approval, fundamental issues like land acquisition and the resettlement of affected communities remain unresolved.
Although the Water Resources secretary pinned the blame for the land acquisition delays on the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, the relevant authorities cannot run away from answering a vital question: why was a project of such immense financial magnitude allowed to proceed when land ownership had not yet been secured, especially given that the Planning Division’s guidelines mandate that no water project should commence without first completing land acquisition?
The fallout from this staggering mismanagement is that a project initially set to begin in 2014 and conclude by 2019 at an estimated cost of Rs486 billion only started in 2020, with completion now projected for 2029.
Even more alarming is the explosive rise in its cost, which has surged to Rs1.7 trillion, a jaw-dropping 240 percent increase in projected expenditure, making it the most expensive hydropower venture in Pakistan’s history.
The PAC also took up the case of the beleaguered Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHPP), which has remained non-operational since May 2024 due to the collapse of its headrace tunnel.
Uncertainty surrounds the project, with no clear indication of whether its persistent structural and technical challenges have been resolved or when it might resume operations. Like other large-scale projects, the NJHPP’s story is also one marked by repeated delays in its completion, cost overruns, technical setbacks, design flaws and mismanagement in its construction and upkeep. Despite the prime minister forming a committee in July to investigate its shutdown and apportion blame for the design and construction shortcomings, there has been little clarity regarding when the committee would be submitting its report.
Moreover, the sheer neglect in managing critical national projects became even more evident during the PAC session when it was revealed that used concrete testing equipment had been procured for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, and that too from the very contractor tasked with conducting the tests. This highlights troubling lapses in procurement oversight and raises grave concerns about potential conflicts of interest, calling into question the integrity and credibility of the entire quality assurance process.
It is also important here to consider Nepra’s 2024 State of Power Industry report, released in December, which apart from emphasising deep-rooted issues in large hydropower ventures also revealed the serious inefficiencies afflicting smaller plants – six of them operating at below 50 percent of their designed capacity. If even smaller projects cannot be efficiently managed, what confidence can we have in the successful operation of colossal undertakings like Diamer-Bhasha and Dasu, especially since the disastrous mismanagement of NJHPP post-completion is there for all to see?
It is clear, then, that the nation’s hydropower operations are in need of an urgent overhaul. A systemic transformation is required in how hydropower projects are planned, commissioned and executed.
Transparent and competent planning processes, strict adherence to timelines and budgets, and stronger accountability mechanisms must become the norm. The repeated failures also reflect shortcomings in leadership within the water and power sector. There is, therefore, a critical need to assess whether the vision and capacity required to steer crucial national undertakings are truly in place.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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