Islamabad - An accountability court will indict seven accused including former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and former law minister Dr Babar Awan in Nandipur Power Project case on Monday.
After hearing the case on Friday, AC-II Judge Arshad Malik decided to indict the accused on March 11 and served summon notices to the accused for framing charges against them and also permitted Babar Awan to withdraw his acquittal plea in the above-said reference.
The case has been filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the seven persons for delaying execution of the project which caused a loss of Rs27 billion to the national kitty.
Previously, the court had reserved its judgment on the acquittal plea of Babar Awan. However, the judge summoned the accused persons on the next hearing for indictment after Awan withdrew the petition.
It may be mentioned here that seven persons including Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Babar Awan, former federal secretaries Masood Chishti, Riaz Kiani, Shahid Rafi, former consultant Shameela Mehmood and joint secretary Riaz Mehmood had been nominated in the case.
The Nandipur Power Project is a 425 MW (with potential of 525 MW) combined cycle thermal power plant. Being constructed by the China Dongfang Electric Corporation, the project was completed in March 2015. The initial cost of the project was Rs27 billion; however, the cost escalated during the revised project cycle-1 and totalled Rs58.42 billion at completion.
The power plant faced a series of hiccups during and after the launching its commercial operations. Prior and after construction, the project continued to attract a number of court cases, inquiries, investigations, audits, and political and commercial disputes. The plant collapsed after five days of operation, launching a series of inquiries ordered by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The plant produced electricity at Rs12 per unit, with was less than 43 percent utilisation. In order to make the project viable and to reduce annual losses, it was finally decided to convert the plant to RLNG.