Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday approved, in principle, the financing plan for the Diamer-Bhasha dam and ordered the secretary of water and power to start physical work on the dam before the end of 2017.

Secretary Ministry of Water and Power Mohammad Younus Dagha presented the dam's financial proposal to the prime minister today, Radio-Pakistan reported.

The prime minister instructed Younus Dagha and the secretary of planning and finance to expedite the completion of the financial process and begin the physical process before the end of next year.

This financial plan, made on a self-reliance basis, proposes that construction of the dam will receive a portion of the required funding from allocations made by the Public Sector Development Programme and from resources generated by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).

The rest of the financing for the dam will be arranged on a commercial basis by the Ministry of Water and Power either through Wapda or through leasing its existing projects.

The construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam has been considerably delayed. The project was originally scheduled for completion in 2016, and then 2019, when a decision about its construction was taken by the military government of Gen Pervez Musharraf, but work on the project did not progress at all during his rule.