ISLAMABAD: The controversial Kalabagh dam is on the government’s list of ‘ready for construction’ projects.

This was disclosed when a list of under-construction, ready for construction and under planning hydel power projects was presented before the Senate by the Ministry of Water and Power on Friday.

The house was told in a written reply that the detailed design and tender documents of the 3,600-megawatt Kalabagh dam had been completed in 1988. But the construction of the dam can be undertaken by the government only on the basis of a “consensus decision”.

Senators from Balochistan protested over the inclusion of the dam in the list as Senator Usman Kakar questioned the reason for bringing the list on record.

Strangely enough, senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa belonging to the Awami National Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and members from Sindh belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party did not speak on the issue. The two provinces have been vehemently opposing the project.

However, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali referred to resolutions adopted by some provincial assemblies against the project and said that the government would not undertake construction of any controversial project.

The other two ready for construction projects are: 34.5MW Harpo power project and 1320MW fifth Tarbela Dam extension project.

The house was told that PC-1 of the Harpo power project had been approved on March 28, 2014 and hiring of consultants was in progress.

PC-1 of fifth Tarbela Dam extension project amounting to Rs81 billion was approved on Feb 17 this year and hiring of consultants is in progress. Pre-qualification of firms for civil, electrical and mechanical works is in process. The World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have recently approved the project financing.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, in a written reply, informed the Senate that 6.093 tonnes of gold, 9.693 tonnes of silver and over 76,000 tonnes of copper had been excavated from the Saindak project in Chagai, generating revenues to the tune of over $834 million, over the last five years.

The house was astonished to know that the federal and Balochistan governments had received only $105.46m and $70.76m, respectively, as their shares in the earning.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani regretted that a major chunk of the earning had been taken away by the foreign company working on the project. “There is a loot sale for foreign companies in Pakistan,” he deplored.

Responding to a calling attention notice by Senator Mian Ateeq Sheikh about the rise of circular debt in the power sector to around Rs300bn, Abid Sher Ali confirmed that the debt stood at Rs312bn at present.

However, he said, regular payments were being made to the Pakistan State Oil and no power generation company had been closed.

He said that non-payment of power dues by the provinces had led to the increase in circular debt. According to him, Sindh has to pay Rs71bn, KP Rs20bn, Balochistan Rs4bn and Punjab Rs3.8bn. Besides, Balochistan also has payables of Rs106bn on account of tubewells.

Likewise, the dues against the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Azad Jammu and Kashmir are Rs19bn and Rs62bn, respectively. The K-Electric has liabilities to the tune of Rs39bn.

The house also held a discussion on an adjournment motion regarding illegal border crossing by Pakistani citizens with assistance of human smugglers leading to grave consequences.

Senator Taj Haider said that people chose to illegally travel to foreign countries because of joblessness in the country.

He said that 18,000 industries had been closed in the country and called for legislation to revive the industry and abandoning the privatisation policy which he noted had caused harm to the country’s interests.

Senator Nihal Hashmi said that investors had been averse to setting up industries in the country after nationalisation of different industries in 1970s.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2016