Islamabad - The Senate Standing Committee on Planning was on Friday informed that work on 4,320 megawatts Dasu Hydropower Project has been restarted.
The committee that met here under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwala has announced to probe the on ground progress of Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, the flagship project of the PTI government, and has summoned all the stakeholders for briefing in this regard.
The committee was told by the official of the planning ministry that from July 1st, 2021, till October 12, 2021, Rs102 billion of the PSDP has been utilised. The committee was informed by the official of the ministry of planning and development the Chinese company has mobilised for resuming work on 4,320 megawatts Dasu Hydropower Project. Work on the World Bank-funded project was stopped on July 13, 2021, after the death of 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, in an incident in Dasu area.
During the meeting, officials from the ministry of planning and development revealed that 75 percent of the PSDP goes to the small projects to which the chairman Saleem Mandviwala and members of the committee showed discontent and urged the provincial governments to take up the small projects on its own as it is the primacy of the provinces after the 18th amendment. The committee also decided to call the provincial PSDPs’ in the next meeting to get a clearer picture of these projects. The chairman committee also summoned the representatives of the Balochistan government, GDA and Gawadar Port Authority to know about the exact status of the ongoing PSDP projects in Gawadar.
Regarding the matter of non-issuance of license by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to National Logistic Cell (NLC) for operating the Border Terminals, Mandviwala assured the officials that he will take up the matter with the relevant authority and will pen a letter to FBR in this regard. The COO NLC apprised the committee that currently, they were operating the border terminals via executive order. To know about the condition of roads in the country and other related projects, the chairman committee also expressed his intent to call officials of National High Authority in the next meeting.
Progress report on the recommendations made by the committee in its meeting held on 6th August 2021 was also considered. It was informed that a sub-committee is to be formed when the Special Report by the Committee on the futility of PSDP recommendations by the senate is laid in the House. 
Consideration on the Bill titled “The China Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority (Amendment) bill 2021”, moved by Senator Mian Raza Rabbani and the Bill titled “The China Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority (Amendment) bill 2021”, moved by Senator Sherry Rehman were deferred due to non-availability of the movers in Islamabad.
The committee received a comprehensive briefing from the ministry of planning on the current status of all the undergoing PSDP projects along with their completion plan. The planning ministry officials in its briefing informed the committee that 1,155 PSDP projects are amounting to Rs9,422 billion in which 710 projects are ongoing while 445 are new. The estimated cost of the ongoing and new projects is Rs7,278 billion and Rs2,144 billion respectively. To know the exact breakup of these projects the chairman committee asked for the ageing of the allocated budget and overall projects. While briefing the committee regarding the sectorial breakup of PSDP 2021-2022, the officials apprised that 62 percent of the budget is allocated for the infrastructure sector and 20 percent for the social sector.
Briefing the committee on the completion plan of most important projects, it was said that the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme had a physical progress of 31 percent (expected completion 30.6.2023), Dasu Hydropower Project stage-1 (2,160MW) had a progress of 15 percent (expected completion Feb 2025), Mangla Power Station Refurbishment (310MW) had a physical progress of 48 percent (expected completion June 2024), Tarbela fifth extension (1,410MW) had a physical progress of 2 percent (expected completion June 2025), Tarbela fourth extension had a  physical progress of 99 percent (expected completion Dec 2022), Diamer Basha Dam Project (Dam part) had a physical progress of 4 percent (expected completion June 2029), Diamer Basha Dam Project (land acquisition and re-settlement) had a physical progress of 72 percent and Mohmand Multipurpose Dam Project had a physical progress of 9 percent (expected completion Dec 2025).