Pak: Development projects to be prioritized

Islamabad: The government has decided to prioritise the development projects which would simultaneously store water and generate power, and the Prime Minister has directed the Planning Commission (PC) to do the necessary ground work in this regard, sources told Business Recorder on Sunday.

The PC is likely to inform the Prime Minister about the strategy to this end in the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Monday, June 2. The meeting is also likely to give approval to the overall Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), which has been proposed at Rs 541 billion by the PC, with operational shortfall of Rs 45 billion.

The proposed allocation has been made for morale boosting, as the actual allocation will remain Rs 496 billion. The Finance Ministry has been pressing for total allocation of Rs 437 billion for 2008-09 PSDP. Sources said that final decision on all economic indicators would be taken by the NEC. The projected targets, proposed by the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC), will come up for the consideration of the NEC.

The PC, according to sources, will inform the Prime Minister about the possible small and medium size dams which could be taken up under the PSDP in the next fiscal year. In the past eight years, or so, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had failed to take any practical steps for the construction of multi-purpose water projects, due to which the power generation capacity, especially hydel power generation, remained almost the same.

Sources said that in the past Wapda unilaterally scrapped the provisions of power generation in some development projects like Mirani dam. The same was being done with the Sabakzai dam.

In the PC-1 of Mirani dam, the provision of hydel power was there, but Wapda scrapped this provision, without taking other stakeholders, including PC, into confidence. Wapda also failed to initiate several projects in upper NWFP that could have the potential of storing water and generate electricity.

Sources said that Wapda should pick up speed in construction of Sheikh Haider project, Draban dam, Tank Zam and some other proposed sites for multipurpose projects. They said that detailed engineering study of Tank Zam dam has recently been submitted to the federal government. The work on Munda dam detailed feasibility study is also very slow. This is a very good project for the benefit of the people.

Sources said that the government must give clear instructions to Wapda that its unilateral decision to scrap the provision of hydel power generation being given in the PC-I would not be acceptable. This is the only solution to take the country out of its current energy crisis. They said that around Rs 12 billion is being allocated for multi-purpose water and power projects. The provinces have already submitted details about the potential sites for small and medium size dams to the federal government.