Islamabad: Though physical work is yet to start, the National Assembly was informed Wednesday that Dasu Hydropower Project will be completed in December 2020 which will generate 2160 MW of electricity.
Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal told the House during question hour that PC-1 for the project has been approved by ECNEC and contract for relocation of KKH [Dasu-KKH-01] and construction of Right Bank Access Road have been awarded. He said contract for construction of 132 KV transmission line from Duber to Dasu has also been awarded.
To a question, Jam Kamal said there are various projects under execution to make hydropower houses more efficient. He said the upgradation and refurbishment of Mangla Power Station has been planned to increase the efficiency of turbines and reliability of Hydraulic equipment. He said it will also increase the generation capacity of Mangla Power Station from 1000 to 1310 MW. Similarly, upgradation and modernization of Warsak Hydroelectric Power Station will regain the lost capacity of 53 MW.
Answering a question, he said Munda Dam Hydropower Project is in detailed engineering design phase. He said the project will be constructed in seven years.
To a question, Minister of State for Religious Affairs Pir Aminul Hasnat Shah told the House that each Hajj Tour Operator offers its own Hajj package to their Hujjaj and charge expenditure based on facilities to be provided by the operator. He said the Prime Minister has clearly directed that there will be no free Hajj and no quota for anyone. He told the House that there is no proposal under consideration of the Ministry for launching the ship Service for intending Hujjaj.
Responding to calling attention notice moved by Muhammad Jamaluddin and others regarding non-release of funds to the members from FATA for development schemes, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the House that the government had allocated 12.5 billion rupees last year for development of far-flung areas. He said under this scheme 540 million rupees were released by the Federal Government for FATA but unfortunately FATA officials could not get released these funds from AGPR. He said now the government has released 540 million rupees in June this year for this purpose and efforts are underway for release of the lapsed amount of 540 million rupees.
Replying to another calling attention notice moved by Shaikh Salahuddin and others regarding out-break of various diseases in flood affected areas in the country and lack of quick response thereto by the government, Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar told the House that there is no report of out-break of any disease in the flood affected areas. She said some reports of Diarrhea and skin diseases have been received but these are not at alarming level.
She said medicines and technical assistance have been made available in these areas. She said a cell working in the Ministry of National Health Services is in contact with NDMA, PDMAs and provincial governments to help the people in need of emergency health services in the flood affected areas. She said three hundred thousand Aqua water tablets have been sent to Chitral.