Diamer-Bhasha Dam work: opposition senators stage token walkout over government's position

The opposition lawmakers in Senate on Thursday staged a token walkout in protest against the conflicting position of the government over initiation of work on Diamer-Bhasha Dam by end of the year.
The senators from both opposition and treasury were also not sure whether the government would be able to arrange finances for the start of work on the project, as there are conflicting statements from government side about arranging finances for the mega project.
State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, during the question hour, miserably failed to convince the enraged senators on arrangement of funding for the proposed dam.
Senator Samina Abid of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) alleged that the government had taken two different positions on the matter during the meeting of the house standing panel on climate change and now on the floor of Senate.
She said the government had informed the committee recently that it was trying to arrange funds for the dam from abroad but no one was prepared to do so, whereas now the state minister has said that the work on the project would formally begin before the end of 2017.
"Which one of the two positions is correct, as two different answers have been given by the government functionaries? The minister must inform the House, which one is correct," she emphasised, as the minister tried to convince her and some other senators.
The ruling PML-N's Saud Majeed also rose to point out that estimated $12-14 billion are required for the project and wondered how could this much amount could be made available in next six months or so, as already nothing significant was reflected in the PSDP.
Another treasury Senator Muhammad Talah Mehmood of JUI-F pointed out that the government has mentioned in the written answer that the work on KKH bypass has been halted since December 2015 due to border dispute between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. Similarly, total land required for the dam is yet to be acquired.
PTI's Muhammad Azam Swati had asked a written question about the dam, while in the House again he was on his feet to wonder if there would be any major reservoir ready in near future keeping in view the non-availability of enough water throughout the year.
The state minister tried to assure the concerned senators that as per the Cabinet Committee on Energy's decision, dated November 30, 2016, the dam would be built from national resources, as already some key projects, including RLNG, have been made a reality.
He also made it clear that the government is in contact with all and no one has declined in writing so far. "We are a dignified and self-made nation, we can build the dam on our own," he asserted.
In the written answer, Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that initially Asian Development Bank had shown interest in the project but afterwards it used delaying tactics and shied away from giving any firm commitment.
He said recently, financing strategy or implementation of the project has been approved and Wapda has been asked to update PC-I (one for dam part and the other for power generation) and the up gradation is in progress.
"According to the strategy, dam and pre-requisites will be implemented through PSDP grants plus Wapda arranged financing, whereas power generation facilities shall be implemented through local and foreign loans plus Wapda arranged financing," he noted.
He explained construction of infrastructure/ preliminary works of the project i.e. project colony at Thore Valley, Composite Model Village-II at Harpan Das are in progress.
Replying to a question by PML-N Senator Nisar Muhammad, Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid said, "Total number of corruption cases registered in National Accountability Bureau at present are 940, whereas pending/under process or the last ten years prior to 2006 were 10 x cases only."
"The total number of persons convicted during the last ten years in these cases is 1,352, including 745 plea bargain cases, which are considered to be convicted," he explained.
"A total of Rs673,395.28 million are outstanding dues of electricity from the government and private consumers up to December 2016: Rs179,186.99 million are payable by the government while Rs494208.29 million by private consumers," Khawaja Asif said in reply to a question by Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini of BNP-Mengal.
He added Rs185; 646.66 million are to be paid to QESCO, Rs119, 806.79 million to PESCO and Rs110, 362.17 million by HESCO and Rs5, 555.98 million to IESCO.
To another question by Senator Azam Swati, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sh Aftab Ahmad said that six key officers in the Election Commission of Pakistan are working on contractual basis, including the Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad (appointed on November 01, 2015 for three years), Attaur Rehman, JS LGE for one year (appointed on January 30 last year), Brig Abbas Ali Khan (retd), DG admin for two years (appointed on May 19, 2015), Muhammad Arshad, DG law for two years (appointed on May 21, 2015), Malik Mujtaba, ADG law for two years (appointed on November 14, 2016), and Umar Hayat, director legal for two years (appointed on December 28, 2016).
Likewise, there are three senior officers associated with the Election Commission on deputation: Fida Muhammad, additional secretary admin; Samina Yasmeen, account officer at ECP Secretariat; and Abdula Nasir Zia, account officer in Sindh.
Senators Azam Swati and Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini objected to having contractual employees and deputationists and wondered how would transparency and fairness in elections would be ensured and asked the electoral body to focus on capacity building. Jamaldini complained his party was never invited for consultations by ECP and they have strong reservations about the measures being taken by the electoral body.
The minister defended the ECP secretary and said that he is an excellent officer. He has served as cabinet secretary and the Election Commission members were also happy on his stint as ECP secretary and want him to continue.
Zahid Hamid said that as many as 36,388 cases were filed in the office of Federal Ombudsman during the last two years against LESCO while 33,478 cases were disposed of and disciplinary action was taken against LESCO officers and officials, mostly for excessive billing, wrong and inflated billing as well as delay in provision of connections.