Dasu Hydropower Project's land price up by 95 percent

The price of land for Dasu Hydropower Project (DHP) has increased by about 95 percent from Rs 19 billion to Rs 37 billion as the affectees have refused to accept the initially approved amount.

This was disclosed by Member Water, (Wapda) to the Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources, presided over by Senator Shamim Afridi.

The installed capacity of DHP was 4,320 MW (12 units of 360 MW each). However, the installed capacity of stage-1 would be 2,160 MW i.e. six units. Work on the project commenced on June 23, 2017. For the main civil works, 866 acres of land was required of which only 201 acres land has been acquired, showing that 665 acres of land have yet to be acquired. For preparatory works, 1,121 acres of land were required of which only 539 acres of land have been acquired.

The documents shared with the committee show that 7,888 acres of land were required for reservoir area excluding main and preparatory work, of which no land was acquired.

This implies that out of total required land of 9,875 acres only 740 acres of land was acquired.

The committee was briefed that project affectees did not accept the land rates approved by the ECNEC in November 2015 and raised the following demands: (i) increase in land rate for all categories in project; and (ii) compensation on account of houses/ construction/ terraces/fields and development made after imposition of section-4.

KP government prepared a revised land cost proposal by addressing above demands approved by Project Steering Committee (PSC) on March 5, 2019. As per the proposal, land acquisition cost would increase from Rs 19 billion to Rs 37 billion. Ecnec approved the proposal on October 2, 2019. As per the legal opinion of Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Water Resources, submitted a summary on October 24, 2019 for approval of the proposal from the Cabinet which approved revised land cost.

The Dasu's Project Director informed the committee the work on the tunnel was in progress meant to divert the river. He further stated that water would not be stopped for the project for over 24 hours. With the completion of Bhasha Dam, substantial reduction is expected in silting of Dasu.

Chairman Standing Committee observed that the rate of land will increase with each passing day, urging the government to acquire land as early as possible. In reply to a question, the Project Director stated that District Administration has paid Rs 2 billion to the affectees and still Rs 4 billion is available with the Administration to the affectees.

Wapda argued that District Administration of Kohistan needs to complete the land acquisition for priority areas (1,247 acres) within six months and remaining land within one year.

Chairman Standing Committee proposed that Chief Secretary KP should be invited in the next meeting for briefing on the project.

Wapda also recommended that early approval of second revised PC-1 of Naulong dam project should be obtained from CDWP/ ECNEC along with anticipatory approval for Rs 46.416 million for incurring the expenditure in order to clear the outstanding liabilities on account of outstanding payments to the consultants for finalization of ADB studies/ funding process of the project.

About the Greater Thal Canal Project (GTCP), the committee was informed that Asian Development Bank (ADB) fielded multiple missions in 2016. Since then ADB included GTC in three rolling Country Operations Business Plans (2017-2019, 2018-2020, 2019-2021). The Mission in 2017 indicated tentative financing plan and loan effectiveness in September, 2019. Based on the data, ADB approved technical assistance of $1.4 million for assessing project preparation that meets requirements of government and ADB approval. ADB consultants were mobilized in April 2019, wherein Irrigation Department, Agriculture Department and Planning and Development (P&D) Departments agreed to the proposal of constructing Choubara Branch and phase-1 command area development along with command area development of phase-II itself through ADB financing.

Recently, ADB fielded its Technical Assistant (TA) Review Mission on November 12-16, 2019 wherein the project activities were finalized and costs reviewed based on the input given by all the stakeholders. Beside others the meeting was attended by Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Ahmed Khan and Senator Sabir Shah.