LAHORE: The government’s claims of fast-track work on major hydropower projects notwithstanding, the Chinese company assigned the job to conduct site investigations and surveys of three dams on the Indus — Diamer-Bhasha, Pattan and Thakot — has not been able to start work owing to delays on the part of Wapda in providing the required assistance to it.

China Three Gorges (CTG), the firm which is assisting the Frontier Works Organisation in executing the three projects, had planned to begin site surveys by the end of July and named a 48-member panel of experts for the purpose.

The FWO informed the former Wapda chairman on July 11 about the CTG’s plans, but the authority has so far not acted on the request, causing delay in the start of mandatory preliminary site investigations and surveys.

The combined generation capacity of the three hydropower projects has been estimated at 7,300 megawatts.

“The FWO/CTG had submitted a work plan to Wapda on July 20. But Wapda, being the client, has yet to coordinate preparatory works/activities to be carried out on the sites of these projects,” a Wapda official conceded.

“The minister for water and power had directed the (Wapda) authorities on June 29 to coordinate and complete the surveys and investigations of the sites, but no one has bothered despite submission of a work plan by the CTG through FWO.”

The CTG estimates that it would take three months to complete investigation and survey of the proposed sites.

According to the work plan, the CTG had sought assistance from the Pakistani side for completion of a supplementary site survey of the projects. “During the (Chinese) engineers’ stay in Pakistan, the Pakistani side should try as far as possible to provide necessary documents for the entry, stay, work and exit from the sites, adequate security (special police, guards etc) to the camps of the projects, road leading to them and the site working area, repatriation under urgent situations, import, export and customs clearance of the goods and equipment required for the site’s additional survey, provision of site working camps, accommodation and dining,” a letter written by the company said.

The work to be carried out on the three sites involves installing of water gauges at each dam site and setting up of a powerhouse to observe the water level and its flow, reviewing the stage-discharge relations at the dam sites and the tail water of the powerhouse, sampling and analysing of the sediment, topography, and review of geological maps and conditions.

“When the work plan by the CTG has already been submitted, delay on the part of the client in carrying out these site investigations and surveys is baffling,” the Wapda official observed.

He added that senior officials must give priority to work on the hydropower projects instead of “delaying assignments unnecessarily”.

Muhammad Nawaz Butt, general manager of the Diamer-Bhasha project, refused to comment on the issue. “I am not authorised to speak on the matter,” he replied. Wapda’s director of public relations did not come up with the authority’s version despite repeated calls and reminders over the last few days.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016