Islamabad - The construction work of 4,320 MW Dasu Hydropower project is unlikely to start this year as WAPDA has acquired only 97 acres of land so far, out of total 9917 acre, due to unavailability of land record and disagreement on the land prices.

During a meeting held by the Ministry of Water and Power, Kohistan Deputy Commissioner informed that the residence of the dam area are asking high prices than the government prescribed rates, which is creating hurdles in the land acquisition, official sources told The Nation here on Wednesday.

The meeting, which was held last month, was attended by the officials of Ministry of Water, WAPDA, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government officials. During the meeting, the main issue was related with land acquisition as the contracts of preliminary works, worth billion of rupees, have already been awarded to different companies but the government has so far failed to allot them land. Now it’s the government responsibility to hand over land to them, so they can start their work, the official added. The contractor has also the option to lodge delay claims which will cause extra amount to the nation kitty, the official added.

The deputy commissioner further informed that so far they have acquired only 97 acre of land, the official said. Dasu hydropower project (DHP) includes the construction of a 4,320 MW hydropower plant on the Indus River near Dasu town in Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project is located approximately 74km downstream of the Diamer Basha Dam, 240km upstream of the Tarbela Dam and 345km from Islamabad.

The hydro power project is being developed in two stages, stage-I includes the installation of six hydropower units rated at 360 MW each, while stage-II will also have the same capacity. According to the details, the first phase of the project was suppose to start this year and is scheduled to be completed by 2021. The total cost of the 4,320 MW project is about $4.5 billion.

World Bank is providing $588.4 million as IDA-1 Credit for Stage-I of Dasu Project along with Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) of $460 million under Loan Agreement signed on August 25, 2014. The bank has disbursed funds in respect of different components of the project like land acquisition, consultants invoices and mobilisation advance to contractors of preparatory works, etc. The feasibility study for the project was completed in 2009 and preparatory construction works for stage 1 commenced in May 2015. The construction of the main dam will start this year and stage 1 is scheduled to be online by 2021. On completion in five years, stage-1 of the project will contribute more than 12 billion units to the national grid per year.

When contacted, about delay in the land acquisition, the WAPDA official confirmed that out of 9,917 acre, currently WAPDA has possession of 97 acres only. However, he said that the process of compensation payments has been started from October 18, 2016. Kohistan DC handed over the cheques to affectees of Zaal and Uchhar areas where contractors camps were constructed. The compensation payments for remaining priority areas of preparatory and main works would be made soon, the official said.

Regarding the reason for delay in the land acquisition, the official said that Dasu is an unsettled area where no land and ownership record was available like other cities of the country. To prepare said record, a special Unit was established under Kohistan DC which is working at site from last 3 years, the official said.

Talking about the second reason of delay, the official said that around 10,000 acre of land would be acquired for Dasu project, thus land and revenue surveys need to be prepared accurately to start with compensation payments which is a time consuming process. Besides, there is also resentment from affectees as some groups are not agreed with the land rates announced by the DC and same were also approved by ECNEC, they are demanding higher rates and change of land categories, the official said.

WAPDA, Ministry of Water and Power, Government of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and local administration are making efforts to resolve the issues relating to land acquisition by involving locals of the area, the official added.