ISLAMABAD - The Ministry of Water and Power yesterday declared the 425MW Nandipur power generation plant full of faults, passing the buck on its management, despite terming it a state-of-the-art project and strongly defending the charges of corruption for years.
The Nandipur project is not delivering as per the plan and its current affairs are the direct responsibility of the management, said a letter issued from the Ministry of Water and Power yesterday.
According to sources, the letter sought explanation from the management of the project to explain why the plant is not generating electricity as per capacity, causing hue loss to the national exchequer.
According to officials, the letter has been sent after the ongoing operation of the law-enforcing agencies against corruption. The sources claimed many such letters are in the pipeline to cover up the corruption of billions of dollars in the energy sector. The ministry has sought answer from the Nandipur management in three working days.
It is pertinent to mention that Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif, State Minister Abid Sher Ali and Secretary Younis Dahga had been defending the project in front of the media, the parliament and the standing committees of the National Assembly and the Senate in the past and kept on doing so till last month. They had been claiming that no corruption was done and the plant was fully operational.
The project has been widely discussed in the media, since it was re-inaugurated and given to a blacklisted Chinese firm.
Chinese Company Dongfang was blacklisted in Pakistan after supplying faulty Railway locomotives to Pakistan, depriving the national kitty of around $98 million. Dongfang was blacklisted by Pakistan Railways and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) on May 21, 2013, for providing faulty and substandard Railway locomotives and uploaded the information on its website as a warning for other companies not to carry out business with that. It was alleged that heavy kickbacks were involved and quality and other specifications of the locomotives were criminally ignored just for vested interests.
The combined cycle thermal power plant has so far been the most expensive project in terms of the cost. Interestingly, Nepra, violating all the rules, granted it the most expensive tariff.
Dongfang was to complete construction of the Nandipur project by April 2011. On May 31, 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, inaugurated the first 95MW turbine. But it reportedly stopped functioning after two days.
Since then the dubious project has not been functioning as per capacity, but the ministry kept on terming it a success.
Ministry of Water and Power spokesman Zafaryab Khan neither contradicted the issuance of the letter nor did he confirm it. Nandipur Project Chief Capt Muhammad Mehmood did not respond to text messages and calls.