News
Friday, May 14, 2010
‘Allocation for Dardam Dam slashed to Rs 128m’* Raja Pervaiz Ashraf says feasibility study on importing power assigned to joint venture of NESPAK, MOSIIANNIR
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Thursday informed the Senate that while the original allocation for the Darban Dam project was Rs 700 million in the current Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), it had been “rationalized” to Rs 128 million due to the global financial crisis and no funds had so far been released for the project.
The minister, in a written reply to a question, said the estimated cost of eight dams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the PSDP 2009-10 was Rs 32,778 million, adding that the estimated cost of a small dam in Torawaria Hangu under the PSDP 2009-10 was Rs 200 million and Rs 80 million had been allocated for 2009-10. However, he said no fund had been released for the project so far due to the non-submission of the project’s PC-I.
Joint venture: The Ministry of Water and Power, in reply to a question, informed the House that the feasibility study for the project to import 1,000 megawatts of electricity, involving the construction of a 700 kilometre high-voltage DC/High voltage AC interconnection, had already been assigned to a joint venture of NESPAK and MOSIIANNIR of Iran with the former as the lead consultant.
The ministry said that as many as one dozen sectors had been exempted from load shedding: defence production installations, defence sensitive installations, atomic energy installations, public sector hospitals, public sector education institutions (academic blocks), water supply tube wells, disposal stations, jails, Pakistan secretariat in Islamabad, the cement industry and continuous process industry.
Replying to questions on behalf of the power minister, Law Minister Babar Awan said that a feasibility study for importing 1.000 megawatts from Iran for the National Grid Gwadar was under process. “Iran is already supplying 39 megawatts to border towns and coastal areas of Balochistan under a contract signed on November 6, 2002,” he said.
To a question, the minister informed the House that 1,020 people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been appointed to PEPCO since February 2009.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs informed the Senate that the government was considering including airlines other than PIA and the Saudi Airline in the Haj operation, subject to its approval by aviation authorities and the governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
In a written reply to the House, the ministry further stated that if the new airlines were included, there would be competition and a better quality of services. Also, the duration of stay would be reduced from 40 days to 35 days. The ministry said that other Saudi airlines would be given the option to operate on un-attractive gateways like Peshawar and Quetta.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk