PAC likely to discuss Nandipur project in upcoming meeting

With criticism on the cost of the Nandipur Power Project intensifying, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is likely to discuss it in its upcoming meeting, an official of PAC told Business Recorder. "The issue of Nandipur Power Project will be discussed in the upcoming meeting, as opposition parties'' members are set to give a tough time to the incumbent government," the official maintained.
Chairman PAC, Khurshid Shah, has written a letter to Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), seeking the audit of alleged irregularities in the Nandipur power project. The letter urges that responsibility be fixed for negligence and delays in the project and demanded that the audit report be presented to the PAC. Sources said that PPP''s members in PAC were asked to give a tough time to the government on the power project, adding that PAC chairman and PPP senior leader Syed Khursheed Shah may also grill government members on this matter.
A PAC member, on condition of anonymity, said PPP would raise the matter in the upcoming meeting of the PAC. Objections will be raised mainly on the cost of the national project, he added. Media reports suggest that the cost of the project was raised to Rs 83 billion against a revised cost of Rs 58 billion and the initial estimate of Rs 23 billion during the PPP-led coalition government. However, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif citing the AGP report clarified that a sum of Rs 58 billion had been allocated for Nandipur Power Project and Rs 51.5 billion had so far been used.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took notice of the controversy and ordered an audit of the Nandipur Power Project amid allegations of corruption. The Ministry of Water and Power had also written a letter to the AGP asking him to conduct the audit with three terms of reference, including reasons behind cost escalation, the amount spent so far and whether the board, administration of the project and the contractor fulfilled their responsibilities. Nandipur has an operational capacity of 425 to 525 megawatt of electricity but due to the need for frequent cleaning can only operate for 22 days of every month.